Constructed of granite, the monument's single Doric column in height sits over the crypt at the top of a staircase with 99 steps. When it was built, it was the world's tallest Doric column. The column carries the inscription: "1776 THE PRISON SHIP MARTYRS MONUMENT 1908". The monument's column contained a staircase accessed by a bronze door. The stone for the monument came from Lacasse quarry, about east of Newport, Vermont. The grand staircase of 100 granite steps rises in three stages. At the foot of the staircase, the entrance to the vault was covered by a slab of brown sandstone, now in storage, that bears the names of the 1808 monument committee and builders, as well as this inscription: