Claremont, NH

Not quite an NHA Fountain

When our good friend Bill Chiles at the Vinalhaven Historical Society forwarded this beautiful postcard from Claremont, NH we were excited because we had never heard of a fountain being given to Claremont. The fountain in the postcard certainly looks like an NHA Fountain, but it seems that it is not. We put something on the Claremont History Museum Facebook page and followed up with a phone call.

Wayne from the Claremont Historical Society got back to us very quickly with this picture of the fountain from about 1940 along with the news that it isn't really an NHA fountain. Though it is identical in almost all facets, one side of the fountain tells a different story. From a distance the plaque looks identical to all the other NHA fountains but it's not. However as you can see from the clipping it was clearly not given by the NHA. The fountain evidently was a gift to the town on its 150th anniversary from a prominent family in Claremont, and the fountain is known as the Rossiter Fountain.The inscription on the plaque is:

IN MEMORY OF
STEPHEN FARLEY ROSSITER
AND HIS SON
MARSHALL A ROSSITER
1914

Wayne forwarded this additional information about Stephen from Waite's History of Claremont, published in 1895:

He also informed us that Marshall Rossiter was the superintendent of schools in Claremont.

So as with North Haven, Maine and Vinal Haven Maine, it appears that there were some additional fountains sold to communities that are technically not NHA fountains. The good news about them is that they are still around! The Rossiter Fountain has been moved to the Union Cemetery in Claremont. Here's another look at it in the 1950's before being moved.

 


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