This sketch from the 1950s shows how the monument very likely appeared when build in 1864 with all three Turks head carvings in place. The illustration is by Lyman Ruttledge author of Ten Miles Out, the "bible" guidebook to the Isles of Shoals which has been in print in various editions since 1949. Ruttledge inaccurately stated that the Smith Monument was the only spot on Star Island not owned by the Star Island Corporation. It is, however, and has been maintained off on since 1914 by a group called the NH Society of Colonial Wars, part of a national lineage organization. This scan is from the original pencil sketch in the collection of the Athenaeum. (Courtesy ISHRA Shoals Collection at Portsmouth Athenaeum)

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Ugliest Monument in New England

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