Samuel Wilson monument.

Uncle Sam Birthplace Statue

Samuel Wilson was born in Arlington on Sep. 13, 1766, but it wasn't until many years later, after he had moved to Troy, New York, that he became "Uncle Sam" and immortal. His birthplace nonetheless wanted to commemorate him, so in 1976 it unveiled a bronze statue of Samuel (not Sam) by local sculptor Theodore Cotillo Barbarossa.

The depiction is a compromise, as if Barbarossa was told, "Take the cartoon Uncle Sam (which Samuel Wilson did not look like), shave off his billy goat beard, and make him look about 40." Next to the statue is a bronze relief depicting the three ages of Samuel Wilson: on horseback as a young man, behind a picket fence as an adult, and as the familiar cartoon character in his old age.

The Uncle Sam statue doesn't look like this.

"He became our national symbol, Uncle Sam," reads the inscription.

Uncle Sam Birthplace Statue

Address:: Mystic St., Arlington, MA
Directions:: Downtown. On the east side of Mystic St./Hwy 60 just north of its intersection with Massachusetts Ave./Hwy 2A. US Hwy 3 follows both roadways.
RA Rates:: Worth a Detour

Nearby Offbeat Places

Easter Island Fisherman, Cambridge, MA - 2 mi.

Jumbo the Elephant: Statue and Ashes, Medford, MA - 2 mi.

Marker: Leif Erikson's House Was Here, Cambridge, MA - 3 mi.

In the region:

USS Salem - From Mothballs to Museum, Quincy, MA - 15 mi.

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