During the month of July, we celebrate with fireworks and true patriotism, the creation of the United States of America. We arrive at the city park in time for the Chuck Wagon Breakfast–hotcakes, eggs, sausage/bacon, hash browns, orange juice, milk, and coffee. We stay all day lazing around exhibits and booths selling stuff. And we end the day with the live booms of bursting fireworks. Some communities take three and four days to celebrate. But…
Did you know…?
The city of Washington DC was designed by Pierre C. L’Enfant to approximate the new Jerusalem, the City of God, the archetypal heavenly city–the new order for the ages. This focus is inscribed on the Great Seal of the United States. You can read more about this remarkable circumstance in this amazing book:
The Sacred Geometry of Washington DC: The Integrity and Power of the Original Design, by Nicholas R. Mann. Barnes & Noble, 2007.
Symbolism permeates great buildings as well as city design. And the details, as intriguing as they are, may never be shared outside the eclectic bookstore or your nearest public library.
Iconography is the study of such matters. What symbols are present. How are they displayed. Is there a written study with maps and drawings and documents that chronicle the meanings in the buildings and their layouts? Look into the story of your city and other cities in the US. For a new understanding of their significance within the broader context of your family history. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS Do you have a diary with pencil or pen sketches of the environment of your ancestry? Or better yet, a sketch book? Stay tuned for a description of the diary and sketchbook of Lee Johnson, a relative of my husband Alma. What a treasure it is.