As you may know,  Flag Fables is located in Massachusetts where many of the towns & cities were in existence long before the United States was officially a country. Over the weekend we happened to drive by a tiny, immaculately maintained, very old back road cemetery in Hadley, Massachusetts. (Hadley, by the way, is currently celebrating its 350th Anniversary) and we decided to stop and walk around.

Many of the headstones in the cemetery had American flags commemorating veterans buried there & medallions indicating the war in which that individual was involved. I’m guessing this might have been the original cemetery for Hadley because many of the medallions were for the Revolutionary War. The SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) Medallion identifies those individuals who fought in, or otherwise supported, the American Revolution. The design of the medallion is a modified Maltese Cross with thirteen stars encircling a Militiaman in the center.

Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Medallion

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Among the many SAR Medallions in the Hadley cemetery, we found markers for Mr. Samuel Gaylord (1744 – 1816)

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American Flag and SAR Medallion for Mr. Samuel Gaylord

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and for Capt. Moses Kellogg (1733 – 1815).

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Capt. Moses Kellogg

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These were some of the individuals who’s efforts to start a new country resulted in the creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 – which we celebrate every year on that date.
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I hope you had a safe & happy holiday!

Wendy