Cornelius Harnett Monument, Wilmington
This monument, which stands in the median of Market Street, takes the shape of a tall, thin granite obelisk. It stands 28 feet 10 inches tall. Harnett's grave is located in St. James Church graveyard, across the street from the obelisk.
Images:
Facing west |
East side inscription |
South side inscription |
North side inscription
North Side: CORNELIUS HARNETT / 1723 / 1781 / PATRIOT AND STATESMAN
East Side:THE CAPE FEAR / FIRST EXPLORED / 1663 / FIRST SETTLEMENT / AT OLD TOWN / 1665 / PERMANENT SETTLEMENT / AT BRUNSWICK / 1725 / WILMINGTON ESTABLISHED / 1733
South Side: IN HONOR OF / THE HUNDRED AND FIFTY / MEN WHO MADE THE FIRST / ARMED RESISTANCE / IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES / TO THE OPPRESSIVE / STAMP ACT / OF THE / BRITISH PARLIAMENT / FEBRUARY 19TH 1766
West Side: THE / NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY / OF THE COLONIAL DAMES / OF AMERICA / HAVE ERECTED THIS / MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY / OF THE COLONIAL / HEROES / OF THE LOWER CAPE FEAR
City of Wilmington
May 2, 1907
34.235670 , -77.944720
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"Harnett Obelisk," Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museum, SIRIS, sirismm.si.edu, (accessed May 29, 2012) Link
Connor, R. D. W. Cornelius Harnett. An essay in North Carolina history (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company, 1909), (accessed August 22, 2013) Link
Lennon, Donald R. 1988. "Harnett, Cornelius," NCpedia.org, (accessed August 22, 2013) Link
North Carolina Society Daughters of the Revolution. The North Carolina Booklet: Great Events in North Carolina History XII: No. 1 (1912), 26, (accessed August, 2013) Link
Smith, C. Alphonso. "Our Debt to Cornelius Harnett. An Address by C. Alphonso Smith, Ph.D., LL.D., of the University of North Carolina," (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Magazine, 1907), (accessed May 29, 2012) Link
Yes
Vermont Barre granite
North Carolina Society of Colonial Dames in America
Cornelius Harnett, a merchant and statesman from Wilmington, was a leader in the resistance to the Stamp Act and was chairman of the Sons of Liberty. He later represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress.
[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]
The monument is located in the median of Market Street at its intersection with 4th Street in Wilmington, NC. Harnett's grave is located in St. James Church graveyard, across the street from the obelisk.
The cornerstone was laid April 1906; the monument was fully installed in November of the same year and dedicated on May 2, 1907.
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