We are spending our summer in a small town in Maine. We have been coming here each summer for almost a quarter of a century, yet only now am I beginning to appreciate its wonderful history. In 1736, a group of citizens of Gloucester, Massachusetts petitioned the colonial governor to settle land near the coast in the Province of Maine (it would not become a state until 1822). The petition was granted the following year, and in 1739 a group of settlers cut a road from Yarmouth, on Casco Bay, through the intervale to the headwaters of the Royal River at what is now Sabbathday Lake. A blockhouse fortification and palisades were erected on high ground in 1753-1754 during the French and Indian War. The town of New Gloucester was eventually incorporated in 1774 at a time when the thirteen American colonies were organizing to express dissatisfaction with their treatment by the British crown. Upon incorporation the good people of New Gloucester made it known that it would gladly contribute to the common defense of the united colonies in support of full independence.
So today I went to the town meeting house, dating from circa 1772, where members of the local historical society gathered for a reading of the Declaration of Independence. This commemorates the 235th anniversary of the ratification and announcement of that most eloquent of documents which gave birth to the American republic. Strangely I cannot recall the last time I read it, or heard it read, and I had forgotten how long it is. Sitting there and listening to those words, and contemplating their full meaning and intent, I realized, perhaps for the first time, that there is more to the 4th of July than fireworks, family picnics, and a day off from work. The Declaration of Independence is America in a nutshell. It expresses what we as Americans feel we deserve and why. I had forgotten this until I sat there this morning and listened to what it sounds like when we as a people stand up for what we believe in. I think a lot of us have forgotten what wonderful and beautiful music this can be.
