Flag House

When we were in Baltimore, one of the things we did was visit the Flag House, which is the house where the Star-Spangled Banner – the actual one, about which the song by Francis Scott Key was written – was made.

We learned a lot.  The flag was enormous – 30 feet by 42 feet, all sewn by hand.  The order specified 2 foot stripes, and the wool bunting that they used to make it came in 18 inch strips.  I wonder if the seamstress spent any time wishing the stripes could just be 18 inches…

The stars were 2 feet from point to point.

We learned that we like our modern kitchens better than the ones in common use 200 years ago.

The mural is the actual size of the Star-Spangled banner that flew over Fort McHenry.

Sim found a museum volunteer to help.  He really likes being helpful.  He also likes watering plants, so it was a good fit.

Michael and I were actually both there, as proven by this photo.

There was a pretty cool kids’ setup in the museum, and the kids could do an old-time kitchen thing, color flags, and several other activities.

Simeon and Naomi opted for the kitchen stuff.  So fun!

The house tour was really quite interesting and informative, and so was the museum.  During our time in Baltimore, Michael also took the oldest two kids of both families into D.C., where, among other things, the saw the original Star-Spangled Banner. Then we all went to Fort McHenry, the site where it actually flew. (Posts on those trips to follow) The Star Spangled Banner turned out to be a good theme for our visit, and all centering around the War of 1812, which has its bicentennial starting this month.