Ordination Rock - Tamworth, NH, USA - Citizen Memorials on Waymarking.com

Ordination Rock is a glacial boulder located about one mile southwest from Tamworth Village, on Cleveland Hill Road, directly across the road from a cemetery that bears the same name. It is on this rock where Samuel Hidden was ordained as Tamworth's first settled minister in 1792, shortly after his graduation from Dartmouth College, and prior to that, serving in the Revolutionary War. He used the rock as a symbol for the foundation of his church, much the same as Jesus did in during biblical times. He was a multi-talented individual who had great cultural impact on the town, and the town's people erected a monument on top of the rock in his memory in 1862. The monument is a white marble obelisk with a granite base, with all four sides of the obelisk and base bearing inscriptions. There is a stone staircase at the east side of the rock for access to the monument. There are large steel staples along a fracture at the top of the rock's south end as a measure to prevent the south face of the rock from falling away.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

Obelisk south face (Ordination):

Memorial of the Ordination on this ROCK, Sept 12, 1792, of the Rev. SAMUEL HIDDEN as Pastor of the Congregational Church Instituted on that day.

Obelisk east face (Biography):

Born in Rowley, Mass, Feb 22, 1760.
Served in the War of the Revolution by four Enlistments 1777-1781.
Graduated at Dart. College, 1791.
Minister in Tamworth 46 years died Feb. 13, 1837, AEt. 77.

Obelisk north face (Lifetime Achievement):

He came into the Wilderness and left it a Fruitful field.

Obelisk west face (Dedication):

To perpetuate the memory of his virtues and Public Services
a Grandson, bearing his honored name Provided for the erection of this Cenotaph, 1862.


Base, south face:

TOWN CHARTERED 1766.

Base, east face:

SETTLED 1771.

Base, north face:

40 FAMILIES 1792.

Base, west face:

CENSUS OF 1860. 1717.

******

Rev. Samuel Hidden's grave is located in the cemetery across the road from Ordination Rock. It resembles a stone table with six posts.

The link below gives a fuller history, albeit a short one. However, the cenotaph is self explanatory.

Website with more information on either the memorial or the person(s) it is dedicated to: [Web Link] Location: Cleveland Hill Road, Tamworth, NH

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