Thanks, Walter. Now I know how Liberty Pole Blvd. got its unique name!  ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, November 25, 2011 1:00 AM Subject: NYBROOKLYN Digest, Vol 6, Issue 242 Today's Topics:   1. Happy Evacuation Day (Friday, November 25) ([email protected]) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:45:44 -0500 (EST) From: [email protected] Subject: [BKLYN] Happy Evacuation Day (Friday, November 25) To: [email protected], [email protected],     [email protected],    [email protected],     [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Friday, November 25, is the 228th Anniversary of Evacuation  Day. Now almost forgotten, Evacuation Day, especially in the NYC  area, was celebrated as a holiday long before the Fourth of  July: On November 25, 1783, the British Army boarded their naval  vessels and evacuated New York City (then only coterminous with New York  County), their wartime headquarters and their last military position* in the  United States during the Revolutionary War. As the British sailed  away south in retreat through the Narrows separating Staten Island on the west  and Long Island on the east, the last thing they saw, as their ships sunk below  the horizon, was the Flag of the United States of America flying atop the  Liberty Pole (an extended flag pole) in the frontyard of the Dutch Reformed  Church in the Hamlet of New Utrecht, Town of New Utrecht, in the south-central  part of Kings County.  Today this location is at Christopher Columbus  Boulevard (18th Avenue) and Liberty Pole Boulevard (84th Street) in the  Bensonhurst neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City Borough  of Brooklyn. (The NYC Borough of Brooklyn is coterminous with the NYS Kings  County). Replaced six times over the years, the 106' Liberty Pole  is the last remaining Liberty Pole in the original thirteen United States.  On top of the Pole is the original eagle and weathervane. The eagle is made of  wood and has a 5' wingspan. After two hundred and twenty-eight years, the  weather has weakened it considerably and it has been reinforced with iron  bands. The eagle has looked over the bay and seen many sailing  vessels, steamships and war ships. It has been said that the eyes of this golden  eagle has looked upon more change in the world's history than occurred from the  days of Nebuchadnezzar to the day when the eagle was raised. Here's  the URL for the New Utrecht Liberty Pole  Association: http://www.historicnewutrecht.org/LPA.html Here's  the URL for the Dutch Reformed Church (celebrated its 334th anniversary on  Thursday, October 27,  2011): http://www.newutrechtchurch.org/ New Yorkers  celebrated November 25 as Evacuation Day for well over a century. But, with the  warming of relations with England immediately preceding World War I and R. H.  Macy's publicity campaigns for a parade celebrating another late November  festival, Evacuation Day celebrations faded away. I hope  this information is useful or, at least,  interesting. Regards, Walter Greenspan Great Falls,  MT & Jericho, NY * Although the Treaty of Paris of  1783 said that Britain would evacuate all posts within the new United States,  they did not. Scattered posts from present-day Vermont to present-day Michigan  remained in British hands until Jay's Treaty of 1795. Niagara was one of these  British held forts on U. S. soil. ------------------------------ To contact the NYBROOKLYN list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the NYBROOKLYN mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of NYBROOKLYN Digest, Vol 6, Issue 242 ****************************************** Great Falls,  MT & Jericho, NY * Although the Treaty of Paris of  1783 said that Britain would evacuate all posts within the new United States,  they did not. Scattered posts from present-day Vermont to present-day Michigan  remained in British hands until Jay's Treaty of 1795. Niagara was one of these  British held forts on U. S. soil. ------------------------------ To contact the NYBROOKLYN list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the NYBROOKLYN mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of NYBROOKLYN Digest, Vol 6, Issue 242 ******************************************