The American flag is best well known as the Stars and Stripes. At times, it is also known as Old Glory. It is the best known flag in the world and is easily distinguished.
The history behind the Stars and Stripes are often attributed to a seamstress by the name of Betsy Ross. Although it had been disputed but the fact remains that Betsy Ross is the person who is best known as the person who first sewn the original stars and stripe.
We went to make a short visit to her house. It was really a small place and there does not seem to be many tourists here. Somehow I felt that this place is more commercialized than it is historical. I think it is run by a company.
The tour brought us to the various rooms during Betsy Ross’ days. Strange thing is that we do not really see much of the stars and stripes. Historical info regarding the American is scant … this place is more about Betsy Ross than the American flag.
Anyway, we did learn a few things here. The original flag has a circular arrangements of 13 stars which represented the 13 colonies at the time of independence. The stars on the flag was originally designed as a 6-pointed star because it is supposed to be easier to make. However, it soon became a 5-pointed star when Betsy demonstrated how easy it is to make a 5-pointed star with a few fold and a clip of the scissors.
Also, there are a total of 28 flag of stars and stripes designed up to today. Believe it or not, all of these designs are legal US flags and can be used interchangeably. As everyone knows that it currently stands at 50 stars but the US government has designs up to 56 stars for future use.
Trivia: Which state represented the 50th star? Which state will likely represent the 51st star in the future?
I snuck in the picture above because I did not want to create another posting just for this. This picture above is the US Mint which is located just next to the Constitution Center. We tried to go in but they said “no camera”, not just “no pictures” but “no CAMERA”! And they don’t even have lockers in the place. This is stupid because who would not have a camera to visit a place like this? So, if you want to visit the US Mint, ditch your camera, ya hear?
My bet for the 50th US state would be between Alaska and Hawaii. Not sure which one exactly, though. As for the possible 51st state, that would be easy: Puerto Rico because of its odd status as a free country yet it is extremely intermingled with US affairs.
As for the camera policy, unfortunately, I will side with them. After all, it is written in their website. However, if it is not written, then I will have some issue, as I have mentioned previously.