Memorial Arch of Tilton
📍Northfield, New Hampshire

The Memorial was supposed to be a giant tombstone for Charles Tilton. Alas, things did not work out that way, and now it’s just a monument, with Tilton being buried nearby in a humble cemetery.

Charles Tilton got rich during the California Gold Rush. When he returned to his hometown of Sanbornton Bridge, NH, he invested heavily in it. So much so in fact, that the residents named the town after him.

Inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, Tilton had his own arch built in the early 1880s on a large hill with one of the best views in the area. He planned on being interred in the large, lion-topped, pink-granite sarcophagus between the two columns at its base. He also planned on Northfield, the adjoining town where the hill was actually located, being incorporated into Tilton. However, when Northfield eventually refused, Tilton forsook his finished monument and was buried in Park Cemetery off West Main Street in his beloved Tilton.

@HistoricalNE