Travels and History by Merrillee Whren

In the USA, today is Flag Day. Recently, my hubby and I traveled to visit our girls who live on the east coast. Our older daughter lives in Baltimore, and many times when we visit, we travel to an interesting area near Baltimore. We have been to Annapolis, where the Naval Academy is located, Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown. We've made trips to Gettysburg and Philadelphia, where we took in the history of those two places.

As we planned our trip this year, I told my daughter that I wanted to go to Ft. McHenry. She was surprised that we had never been there since it is located on the Baltimore Harbor. I said we had seen it, when we sailed on the harbor, but we had never actually been to the fort. So we made plans to visit the historic site.

Here is a photo of my hubby and me, standing at the entrance to the fort. 

Ft. McHenry is famous for a battle in the War of 1812. The battle inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," which became the US National Anthem. At the visitor center we watched a film about the battle and writing of the song. We listened to a ranger talk about the flag that flew over Ft. McHenry. I learned something that I didn't know before. That flag had fifteen stripes instead of the thirteen we know today. There were fifteen stars and fifteen stripes on the flag. They had added stripes when they added stars. Eventually, they came to realize that the flag would look rather bizarre if they continued to add stripes each time they added a star, so they settled on thirteen stripes for the original thirteen colonies. You can learn more about the fort by clicking here.

 Here is a photo of the fifteen-stripe flag.

"O'er the ramparts we watched."

Do you have a historic site that you have visited or would like to visit? What has prompted your interest in this site?

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Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of  thirty-five plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

Happy Flag Day by Merrillee Whren

I'm a little late getting my post up today. I've been dealing with wooziness and nausea, side effects from a statin that I was taking to lower my cholesterol. I quit taking the drug, but it may take as long as six weeks for the side effects to subside. So getting on the computer each day has been an effort. I'm doing a little better this afternoon.

Today is Flag Day. You can read about some of the history behind this day here. Several years ago, we visited Philadelphia and went to the Betsy Ross house. The first photo is the exterior court yard next to the house. The second photo is one of the interior rooms with a gentlemen dressed in the garb of the day.

I've written about Flag Day before, and I'd like to share part of that blog again today.

Since it’s flag day, I’m going to put on my patriotic hat. I love the USA, and I’m more grateful than I can ever explain that I was born in the USA. I’m an American child. If you’ve ever heard the song Phil Vassar sings entitled “An American Child,” you’ll understand what I mean. The line in the song about dreams being born inside an American child speaks right to me. Here is a link if you’d like to listen.

I wasn’t born into wealth or privilege, but I was born in the USA where I could pursue my dreams. I had a dream to be a published author. I’ve realized that dream. I really believe there are opportunities for anyone who has the willingness to work and sacrifice to make his or her dreams come true.

What do you do to be patriotic to your country–whatever that country might be?

I will be giving away an e-book of the first book in my Front Porch Promises series, A PLACE TO CALL HOME. I will draw the winning name at 9PM PDT on July 15, 2016.

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 Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of  thirty-five plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.