The Rose Knows – July 2016
Warm summer days, green mountain splendor, the laughter of folks downtown dancing on Sutton Street to the oldies, and the stars and stripes catching the subtle breezes all blend a sense of giddiness and pride for our special holiday- Independence Day. Our American flag speaks to the celebration of freedom both in the present and our nation’s past.
Our present flag has fifty five-pointed stars on a blue field with alternating numbers of six and five stars in nine rows. Its thirteen red and white stripes alternate, beginning with the red stripe. The fifty stars represent our fifty states and the thirteen stripes represent the thirteen original colonies.
However, Old Glory did not always look this way, of course. The original flag had the alternating red and white stripes with thirteen five pointed yellow stars in a blue canton arranged in a circle. While this flag design has been attributed to Betsy Ross, moss scholars agree that it represented the work of many hands. The flag was commissioned by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. George Washington was one of the members of the design committee for the flag. (It is interesting to note that the Washington family coat-of-arms contained three red stars and three red and white stripes.) This committee along with several flag makers designed the original flag. It is generally acknowledged that seamstress Betsy Ross suggested the five-point stars instead of the six-point stars designed by the committee because the five-point stars can be more clearly defined from a distance.
We welcome several star residents to Tudor Croft this month: Robin and Tina at 35 Tudor Way, Andy and Catherine at 34 Tudor Way, Roger and Laurie at 40 Tudor Way, Jay and Melissa at 41 Tudor Way, Steve and Pamela at 50 Tudor Way, Karen at 12 Chepstow Place, and the Evans at 6 Chepstow Place. As our country’s flag represents one country out of many states, our new residents are a part of the unified community out of many families here at Tudor Croft – E pluribus Unum!
The flags are flying at homes and businesses in Black Mountain. The fireworks resonate like bombs bursting in the air as they shoot from the mountains south of town. As we are awed by the pyrotechnics of our modern age, let us celebrate the spirit of Independence Day with the resolution of John Phillip Sousa’s famous march that these stars and stripes will indeed be forever!
Welcome to Our Court!
