First | Previous Picture | Next Picture | Last | Thumbnails

This canon is known as the Matilda Newport cannon and is located at Fort Norris on Ducor Hill. The hill overlooks the city and bay of Monrovia, Cape Montserrado.
During the early days of the settlement that is now Monrovia, Matilda Newport as the story goes, was taking an evening stroll smoking her pipe, when she saw a group of native Liberians in war paint advancing on the settlement. She used her pipe to light this loaded cannon that was facing the direction the attackers were coming from. BOOM! The cannon went off. The sound was so loud, it frightened the attackers who had never seen such a discharge of firing power before.
Thus she saved the settlement from being taken over by the attackers. For over 133 years December 1 was observed as a national holiday honoring the heroic deed of this daughter of Liberia. The Matilda Newport holiday was discontinued by William R. Tolbert, as well as Pioneer's Day, in his desire, it is believed, to demonstrate that he sought to further cement the unification of the Nation by pushing under the rug REAL history from the settlement days.
The holiday was discontinued, before the 1980 popular people revolution, that saw the rise of Samuel Doe and the people redemption council to power.