Canterbury

Canterbury, CT  2021

My wife was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and has long known that the founder of Cleveland was Gen. Moses Cleaveland, born here in Canterbury, CT.  On a recent Sunday drive we decided to visit Canterbury to see if we could find any mention of Moses.  Sure enough, he is prominently  mentioned in this historical sign.  Apparently, mapmakers and surveyors out in the Western Reserve couldn't spell and left the "a" out of Cleaveland's name, hence the city was named Cleveland.

 

Keep the Quality Up

Newport, RI  2017

It looked so quaint, I had to do some shopping in the British Clothing Store pictured in yesterday's blog post.  In looking around I saw this sign hanging on the wall and was very surprised to see it all the way out here in Newport, RI.  The slogan was that of W.E. Upjohn, the founder of The Upjohn Co., a major pharmaceutical company and my first employer after I finished graduate school.  Dr. Upjohn had these signs made and displayed around the company he founded in Kalamazoo, MI,  long before I started to work.  I asked the store clerk about the sign, and although he knew of the sign being there, he knew nothing about it's history.  He did tell me that the store's owner once was in the fur business and would decorate his fur salons with advertising signs that he collected throughout the years, which is probably how he acquired it.  

Samuel Colt

Chester, CT  2017

The name Samuel Colt was evident on a number of buildings in Chester, CT.  I'm pretty sure this particular Colt is not related to Samuel Colt, the inventor of the revolver and founder of the Colt's Manufacturing Company.  The latter Colt was born in 1814 and from what I can find has no other Samuel's in his immediate ancestry.

Mayflower II

Mystic Seaport, 2015

Readers of this blog might recall some pictures I posted about his time last year of the Mayflower II.  During the regular season she is berthed at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, of course.  This is the second year she has come to Mystic Seaport for repairs.  This year, work is being done on the deck, which is why she's covered. 

Canon Balls

Stonington, CT  2015

These canon balls grace the entrance to the Stonington Free Library pictured in yesterday's post.  I'm pretty sure these are actual cannonballs fired  into Stonington by the British during the Battle of Stonington, August 9, 1814.   The battle lasted for 4 days, but in the end, the British gave up having underestimated the tenacity of the men and women Stonington and their two cannons, which were the subject of this blog post.

Joseph Cinque

New London, CT  2015

Joseph Cinque led the slave uprising aboard the schooner La Amistad  in 1839, which was documented in the movie Amistad made by Steve Spielberg.  After the slave uprising, the ship was discovered and taken into custody in the waters off of eastern Long Island.  The ship was brought to New London and was berthed behind the Custom House.  The slaves were tried in New Haven and after appeals all the way to the Supreme Court were freed and returned to Africa.  This relief of Joseph Cinque graces the entrance to the Custom House, now a maritime museum.

Fresnel Lens

Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT

The Fresnel Lens was invented by the Frenchman Augustine Fresnel in 1822.  Using curved panes of glass, the lens was able to concentrate the light from a single source and project that light much farther than a simple pane of glass.  The lenses came in various sizes, designated as "orders" with a "1st Order" being the largest down to a "7th Order".  This particular Fresnel Lens is a "4th Order" lens weighing between 400 and 600 lbs.  It is capable of projecting a beam of light 15 miles.

Canon Square

Stonington, CT

During the War of 1812, the British decided to attack the town of Stonington.  So on August 9, 1814 four British ships under the command of Capt. Thomas Hardy, appeared off of Stonington Point.  A hand written letter was transferred by rowboat to the towns people of Stonington, warning them that they had 1 hour to leave, before the village would be destroyed.  Little did the British know that hidden in a shed nearby were these two cannons.  The people decided to stay and fight, rolling out these canons, and over the next 4 days inflicted heavy damage on the British ships and successfully defended their town.  The victory had a huge psychological impact on the war for this small town defeated a much more powerful British force.  These are the actual cannons used to defend Stonington, now standing in Canon Square.

Unofficial Flag

Stonington, CT

Every school child learns that the original flag of the United States contained 13 stars and stripes, representing the original 13 states.  In 1795, when Kentucky and Vermont joined the union, the number of stars and stripes was increased to 15 .  It was this flag that has become known as the "Star Spangled Banner" flag for it inspired Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics to what would become our National Anthem.  About this time, Congress decided they really needed to standardize the flag, and they realized that it would become rather unwieldily if they kept adding stars, and stripes.  Congress worked pretty slow in those days as well, and it took quite some time before they agreed on just adding a new star for each state that joined the union, while returning the number of stripes to 13 to honor the original states.  When this flag act became official in 1818, the union had grown to 20 states, so the next official flag contained 20 stars and 13 stripes.  The flag pictured here has 16 stars and stripes and therefore is not an official flag.  It's a replica of a battle flag which flew over Stonington during the Battle of Stonington on August 10, 1814, a month before Francis Scott Key penned his poem. It was made by a local Congregational church sewing circle sometime between 1796 and 1803 which would make it older than the more famous "Star Spangled Banner".  These ladies couldn't wait for an act of Congress, so they added a 16th star and stripe to recognize the state of Tennessee who joined the Union in 1796.  The original battle flag survives to this day in storage.  More can be read about this flag here.

Canon Demo

Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT

I think back in the day, it took a crew of at least 6 or perhaps 7 to fire a cannon from a warship.  The gentleman in the blue coat described the entire process and went through all the commands, and played two different roles in the firing of this cannon.  One important role, not shown here, was often performed by boys on aboard ship, about the age of 10-12.  These boys were referred to as "powder monkeys" and would run from the cannon back to the ship's magazine and carry a single charge for the cannon.  Once delivered, they'd immediately run back for another charge.  For safety reasons, there was never more than a single powder charge near the cannon.