The USS Constitution is America’s oldest commissioned Naval ship, and as such follows protocols like raising the flag each morning and lowering it each evening. This ritual is accompanied by a cannon shot. We discovered they do this at 8 am. It sounds (and feels) just like a lightning strike hitting close—the kind that rattles the windows. We were very excited to hear it though. I remember from our last visit, they only use a quarter charge of gunpowder.
After a leisurely breakfast at the Pilgrim House, we stopped by the Trinity Church graveyard for a few minutes to view more headstones. We stumbled onto another Keith headstone, from Aberdeen (David thinks it might be his immigrant ancestor); some immigrants from Ireland and England of course, and one sad story about a man who arrived in Rhode Island from North Carolina for his health, but died just a few days after arrival.
(by Grace) We left Branford and headed North on Route 1 to travel along the seashore. We stopped at a little cemetery (of course) along the way in Guilford or Madison and checked out a few headstones. We found the first grave, laid in 1688, a young boy of six. We know it was the first because we read it on the stone. There are many, many old graveyards in these towns. We’ve not stopped for every one, but it has been tempting.
