A Yankee Education

I learned last week that the landscape architecture firm I work for designed the American flag plaza in the town I live in, displayed along the bend where the Ohio River meets the Beaver River.  Since I now understand what landscape architects do, I applaud them for the lovely design…and blame some other Yankee for the blaring mistake in its midst.

The center of the design is a 30 x 60 foot American Flag flown atop of a 120-foot pole As you can imagine, it can be seen from all over. Flanking this flag are 26 smaller flags on shorter poles (12 on one side and 14 on the other - something not noticeable by the way they curve, but when you count them...well, my OCD is very bothered by that), each set behind a pink granite slab that is engraved with a year and a list of the states whose stars were added that year. (Stars were once added as soon as a state received statehood, but as of 1818 the stars are added on the 4^th of July following the state’s statehood.) Opposite this is a 26-foot granite wall engraved with some flag history, the first verse of The Star Spangled Banner and the usual list of names associated with raising the funds, commissioning the project, etc. Upon first glance, it is a lovely and Patriotic monument.

Upon a closer study it seems to be yet another Yankee declaration against the South. For can you find the mistake?

Really? You Yankees won the confounded war. Do you have to continue to rub it in our face by being completely unable to even spell our state’s names? Or is this simply yet another example of your biased education? And while I understand your inability to get history right, can you not spell either? That’s sad. Really, really sad.