I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy…
This was our first Fourth of July in our new old-town of Edenton. The town is celebrating its 350th birthday this year. We’re late for the party! The morning started at 10 AM with the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Hewes Memorial. A pretty, white marble monument to the Father of the Navy, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Joseph Hewes, faces Edenton Bay. We sang the Anthem, prayed for our nation and leaders, listened to a local judge read the Declaration, and sang America the Beautiful while seated on the grass between the monument and the Court House that’s as old as the Declaration. I’m a Yankee doodle dandy, as sappy as they come.
At the park on the waterfront food vendors built a tent city, kids played on the playground, and neighbors greeted strangers and neighbors. In the evening we were astonished to see the number of cars and people that came to Edenton for the fireworks. Cars even parked on our street, three blocks away. The fireworks exploded over the Bay. We had ring-side seats on the curb next to the water; then we walked home, about five minutes. Truly an old-fashioned Fourth; no concert, no loud audio on the street, no race or tournaments or furniture store sales. Just families eating watermelon, fishing, relaxing on blankets, walking around town, and returning in the evening for fireworks.
The town was pretty, all decked out with red, white, and blue flowers on the street, and flags flying everywhere. We managed to get our new flag hung on our freshly painted porch, and installed a halyard for our new Town of Edenton flag, a gift from our friend and restoration expert Dawson. We looked forward all day to the fireworks at dark, just as we had done as kids in our hometown. But there were no sparklers.