Longtime readers know that holidays such as Flag Day mean a great deal to me. It only becomes more and more true as time goes by. When I was in Philadelphia a few weeks back one of the places that I found most poignant was the Betsy Ross House. In a way it’s a little curious because while Betsy Ross was indeed a seamstress, knew many of the leading figures of the period, and made many flags in the early days of the nation, the creation myth of her sewing the original flag is almost certainly apocryphal. What is more the house has been renovated beyond recognition so many times over the years. And even it hadn’t, Ross’s ties to the house are tenuous at best. Still, there was something about it I found captivating. I think the reason is that for over a century people have been drawn to the spot on Arch Street just as I was.

The American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association was founded in 1898 to purchase and renovate the house. They sold the above certificates for ten cents apiece. And those dimes eventually added up. The Berger Bros. building is gone now but interestingly enough the company still exists, under the name Berger Building Products. The Coach Lamps building on the left was also torn down long ago and the spot today is an open area for public gathering, a visitor center, and the reputed resting place of Elizabeth (Betsy) and her third spouse John Claypoole, whom she married in 1783 around the war’s end. A quick peruse of the Betsy Ross House social media shows that they are holding Flag Fest all week long.