John Paul Jones Memorial Park, Memorial park and National Register of Historic Places site in Kittery, United States.
John Paul Jones Memorial Park is a roughly two-acre trapezoidal park between Hunter and Newmarch Streets in southern Kittery, Maine, just north of the Piscataqua River. The lanes of United States Route 1 flank it, carrying one-way traffic to and from the Memorial Bridge. Most of it is flat grass bordered by trees, with a few specimen trees; at the southern end stands Bashka Paeff's gold bronze Soldiers and Sailors Memorial relief in a granite frame on a stone plaza.
The park was established in 1926 as a memorial for Maine soldiers and named after naval commander John Paul Jones by state legislature action in 1927. The Province of Maine Monument installed in 1931 commemorates the 1635 chartering of the English Province of Maine to Sir Ferdinando Gorges.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial displays a gold bronze relief created by artist Bashka Paeff mounted on granite, honoring those who served in the military. Visitors can observe the craftsmanship of the sculpture and its solemn placement within the park's natural setting.
The park sits in the wedge between the two one-way lanes of United States Route 1, just north of the Memorial Bridge to Badger's Island and Portsmouth. The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and its stone plaza are at the southern end; the Sloop Ranger, Province of Maine and Marine Corps memorials stand elsewhere on the flat lawn. The ground is grass with trees along the borders.
The Sloop Ranger tablet, a bronze plaque set in granite, was first placed on Badger's Island in 1905 and moved to the park in 1963. It commemorates USS Ranger, John Paul Jones's first command, and is one of three memorials added to the park after its founding.
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