GRAND UNION FLAG RAISING KICKS OFF AT 11:30 A.M. ON JANUARY 1ST

The

annual ceremony commemorates the raising of the nation's first official flag,

featuring 13 red and white horizontal stripes, atop Prospect Hill on New Year's

Day, 1776. At the time, Prospect Hill was a key site in a string of

fortifications created by Washington and the Continental Army in their siege of

British troops in Boston during the first year of the American Revolution. This

year, new historical research will be presented by Byron DeLear of the North

American Vexillological Association including an important discovery: the first

documentary evidence of the name of our nation-"United States of America"-was

written in George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge following the Prospect

Hill ceremony raising the "first flag of America."

The

afternoon's program will include songs, readings, and participants from the

Ancient and Honorable Company (first chartered in 1638), as well as the

Charlestown militia. This year's celebrations will once again include His

Majesty's 10th Regiment of Foot, which will be representing the British Army

and will deliver a message from King George III.  The American Legion Post

19 Honor Guard will lead a military salute as a commemorative flag is raised

atop the Prospect Hill Tower.  

Light

refreshments will be served, and miniature replicas of the Grand Union Flag,

both as a flag and a lapel pin, as well as colonial-era tri corner hats and

historic Somerville books commemorating the event will be available for

purchase.  

The Prospect

Hill Monument is located at the intersection of Munroe and Greenville Streets

just north of Union Square.