The Benefit Street Memorial Fundraiser
Please donate
In the mid-1880s a group of Tillinghast descendants organized to raise a sum of money for the erection of a monument to Pardon Tillinghast in the Tillinghast Family Burial plot (established 1668) located at the south end of Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island. Their efforts were successful. Improvements were made to the site, and the current obelisk monument was erected c1890. Nearly 130 years later, due to decades of weathering, the wall that surrounds that plot has deteriorated and is in urgent need of stabilizing. There is also the need for extensive repair of the cast iron fence that sits astride that wall. The total cost of repairs and refurbishments has been estimated to be in excess of $40,000.00.
Thanks to your support, we have raised a total of $58,000 to date!
In addition to $33,000 that has been raised from Tillinghast family members, friends and College Hill neighbors, we have received generous donations from the following organizations:
The Mary Dexter Chafee Fund
The Champlin Foundation (as a pass-through grant via the Providence Preservation Society)
The Felicia Fund
Rhode Island Foundation Community Preservation Grant
These funds made possible the necessary repairs to the wall next to the Barker Playhouse, replacing 81 ft of rusted fencing along the north lot line including scraping, priming and painting the remaining three sides of the fence that surrounds the burial ground. Last fall we installed perimeter plantings in the site with plant material that is native and could have been used on the original site. In January, a tree service pruned the large trees overhanging the site to allow more sunlight into the space. We are truly grateful for the support and encouragement from so many people.
In the mid-1880s a group of Tillinghast descendants organized to raise a sum of money for the erection of a monument to Pardon Tillinghast in the Tillinghast Family Burial plot …