The Town of Tilton

The Town of Tilton. Tilton Riverfront Park. In 1850, approximately 100 years after the town of Sanbornton was settled, a group of citizens petitioned to form a new town. Voted on at a special town meeting in 1869, and approved by the voters and the governor of N.H., the town of Tilton was formed. It was named in honor of its most famous, wealthiest and unsparingly generous citizen, Charles E. Tilton. , Through the town was incorporated in 1869, it was a thriving village for many years before that. A map of 1814 shows that Tilton, then known as Sanbornton Bridge, boasted a hotel, nearly twenty homes, three stores, a doctor, a lawyer, and a dozen small mills and craftmen's shops. , History abounds in Tilton; the Tilton Riverfront Park (TRP) is only one of many historic sites to see when visiting. The TRP is one stop on an historic tour of architecture and sculpture that takes visitors through downtown Tilton, ending at Island Park. Included on the National Register of Historic Places, downtown Tilton showcases fine examples of eighteenth snd nineteenth century architecture, including ornate commercial Victorian buildings, a gothic revival church, a Victorian hardware store, and nineteenth-century statuary. Island Park, in the Winnipesaukee River at the east end of downtown, was created by Charles Tilton in 1865 and was once home to a Victorian summerhouse and many pieces of nineteenth century statuary. The cast iron footbridge that was erected in 1881 still remains, and is a fine example of a now rarely used Truesdell truss. , A brochure is available at the Tilton Town Hall that contaons more information about the many other sites on the Tilton and Northfield Historic Walking Tour.