It was Captain William Driver, a Massachusetts shipmaster, which first exclaimed Old Glory when his new 24 star American flag was first unfurled. Driver and his flag retired in 1837 and headed to Nashville, where Old Glory became well recognized. Living in Nashville during the Civil War posed a big problem with his Rebel neighbors. After repeated searches, the flag was presumed destroyed. When Union forces moved in and occupied Nashville in 1862, William Driver removed the stitching that held flag inside his bed quilt, and was thrilled to hoist his Stars and Stripes over the capitol building. After the initial flag raising, the Sixth Ohio Regiment went on to adopt the name Old Glory.
     Of course this Boston, New Hampshire, scene doesn’t depict the 24 star Old Glory, but the faded façade and flag whisper the name of Driver’s old relic.
     America’s Independence Day is celebrated throughout the country in so many different ways, and nowhere more apparent than at our country’s national parks. Programs from coast to coast display all the imaginable styles of festivity. Pearl Harbor survivors ring the bell of the sunken USS Arizona at the Pacific Monument Visitor Center. Old Glory is raised to the top of the 450 foot tall Independence Monument in Colorado National Monument. Cannons are fired every half hour at Guilford Courthouse NMP. Visitors relive the independence movement and see the Liberty Bell at the Independence National Historic Park In Philadelphia. You could witness a 21 gun salute on the USS Constitution Turnaround Cruise. And in the nation's capital, an Independence Day parade kicks off the Fourth at the National Mall. Traditionally, fireworks light up the skies at night over the Antietam National Battlefield, Mount Rushmore and Washington D.C.