The Star Spangled Banner Waved Through Three Verses

I picked up an old song book at an estate sale recently. It’s called “Twice 55 Community Songs.” (The Music Supervisors National Conference in 1913 issued a song book with 55 songs in it; this second edition, printed a few years later, has twice that number of songs.) It includes everything from “Auld Lang Syne” to “Three Blind Mice.” It also begins with the best known of our patriotic songs.

Since one of the holidays of June is Flag Day, this is a good time to share with you the little known second and third verses of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” which were printed in the book. (I’m not going to include the first verse; I’m assuming all Americans know those words thoroughly.)

The second verse, as written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, reads:

On the shore dimly seen

Thro’ the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host

In dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze,

O’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows,

Half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam

of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected

Now shines on the stream;

Tis the Star-spangled Banner,

O long may it wave

O’er the land of the free

And the home of the brave!

And the third verse concludes:

O thus be it ever

When free-men shall stand

Between their loved homes

And the war’s desolation!

Blest with vict’ry and peace,

May the heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made

And preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must,

When our cause it is just,

And this be our motto:

In God is our trust!”

And the Star-spangled Banner

In triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free

And the home of the brave!

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400th Anniversary Of Jamestown(e) Celebrated in 2007

The 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent settlement in America, was celebrated in 2007. On May 14, 1607, 104 passengers, all men and boys, arrived in this Virginia colony in three ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. Today, visitors can tour two places that recognize this event.

The first is Jamestown Settlement, a recreated village with several sites which recreate life as it was there 400 years ago.  We’d visited here for the first time about ten years ago, but found it well worth a repeat visit in 2007. Much has been added.

A new Visitor Center was opened in 2007, with an introductory film, a couple of different museum areas (and, of course, a gift shop.)  Galleries tell the story of the beginnings of European settlement in Virginia including the relations with the Powhatan Indians who already called this area home and the Africans from Angola    who were brought to this area as early as 1619.

Once through the museum area, the first thing a visitor encounters outside is a recreated Powhatan village.

From there, a path leads to the Potomac River waterfront, where full-size replicas of the three ships are docked. These ships are seaworthy, and one was used to sail along the Atlantic coastline last year, to highlight the 40th anniversary celebration.

From there, one can wander back and inside James Fort, a re-creation of the one built by the colonists in 1607.  It’s triangular shaped, and within this wooden stockade are the wattle-and-daub buildings with the thatched roofs such as would have been used at the time. There are dwellings, a church, a storehouse and an armory.

At all of the outdoor locations, there are costumed interpreters to explain, answer questions, and, in general, help the visitor to understand life at the time.

That’s the first part of the Jamestown experience. More or less next door, just a short drive down the road, is Historic Jamestowne. This is the site where the first colony really was. It is basically an archaeological dig at this time, and one can walk through the area and see what is being discovered still today as the dig continues.

Altogether, more than one million artifacts have been excavated from the site, and about a thousand of these are on display in the Historic Jamestowne Archaerium. It tells the story of how archaeologists found the fort and what the excavations have revealed. (It includes two almost-complete skeletons from bones which have been recovered.) This building, located at the far end of the site, is in addition to the Visitor Center operated by the National Park Service at the entrance to the area.

If you visit this area, you’ll also want to spend some time at nearby Yorktown, where the Revolutionary War was concluded, and Colonial Williamsburg. The area, collectively, is known as the Historic Triangle.

Donna Miller

P.S. I have not been careless with my spelling of Jamestown. Jamestown Settlement does not use the letter e at the end. Historic Jamestowne does.

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Klondike Flask A Gold Rush Item

In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of western Canada. The Gold Rush which followed enticed 30,000 men from all parts of the United States to this nearly inaccessible part of the Northwest.

The peak period in number of miners was 1898. In 1900, however, production peaked, with $22 million in gold mined.

A choice item for a bottle collector is the Klondike flask, made to represent a large gold nugget. Made of opaque white glass, it was painted in shades ranging from light tan to dark brown.

It is small, with a height of six inches, and held just four ounces of liquid. A metal screw cap has the word Klondike impressed in it.

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