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Community remembers its heritage at Four Flags Ceremony

The Four Flags, from left, include the Seneca Nation, French Fleur-de-lis, Betsy Ross American flag and the English flag.

Amidst the BBQs and the “days off,” Memorial Day is really about remembering.

And for the last 50 years, that’s meant more than just remembering those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

It’s been remembering our heritage.

The 50th iteration of the Four Flags Ceremony was held on Saturday morning at Heritage Park, just off the south end of the Hickory Street Bridge in Crescent Park.

Don Reed, who was master of ceremonies, said that the first Four Flags was actually three flags and occurred in 1967 at the behest of the Kinzua Dam Vacation Bureau. It became Four Flags for the first time in 1986 when a Seneca flag was purchased by the Beaty Geography Club.

A Four Flags Joint Service Committee took over the event in 1990 which now includes the Warren Exchange Club, Warren Rotary Club, Warren Kiwanis Club, Lions Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Elks Community Band opened the program with a concert while the Conewango Clippers performed the National Anthem as well as a couple numbers at the end.

Reed said that the flags need to be replaced approximately every two years at a cost of $4,000.

After a Color Guard comprised of members of Boy Scout Troop 13 raised each of the flags – the Seneca flag, the French Fleur-de-lis, the English flag and the Betsy Ross American Flag – Judi Wilson of the DAR and Alex Shreffler, part of a group who have committed to reinvigorating the Birdstone Monument at the park, addressed the crowd.

Wilson outlined the history of the DAR in Warren – which is now over 106 years old – and said that the Newbold granddaughters, descendants of General William Irvine, were at the center of the formation.

Wilson said that many families in Warren have descendants that date back to the American Revolution because many soldiers in the war were given land grants on the frontier in exchange for their service.

That frontier included our area of Pennsylvania.

Wilson said that documenting one’s link back to the Revolution – part of joining the DAR – can be “a lot of work” and “can take over a year” but is then preserved in Washington D.C.

Shifting to the Birdstone monument, Shreffler said that the monument was originally built 30 years ago at a cost of $45,000 received from over 4,100 people.

Part of a Leadership Warren County class, Shreffler said the group initially approached the City of Warren about potentially undertaking a project to help the city’s maintenance of its parks when City Manager Nancy Freenock suggested the Birdstone.

The monument was falling apart because the top of it was left exposed and, over the years, the freeze-thaw cycle resulted in the destruction of the monument’s concrete interior.

Shreffler said that crews were able to salvage the two large faces – what he called the “focal point” – from the monument and kept whatever else might be usable in the future.

He said that the group has met with the individuals who were originally involved, including it’s designer, Carson Waterman, about how to repair or replace it.

Two themes emerged – that whatever is put there has to honor the Seneca Nation and be educational.

Shreffler said that Waterman’s “main wish was that this become educational.”

To that end, Shreffler said that the current plan is to replace the monument “with a gazebo-type structure” that utilizes many of the original parts of the monument. He said the intent is to have the roof in the shape of Birdstone and include features to make the end result “a teaching point.”

He said that designs are underway that will result in a projected cost in the next few weeks.

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