Today is @TheFreedomTrail's 75th birthday! The original idea for the trail came from Bill Schofield, a Boston Herald-Traveler writer, and Bob Winn, a member of the Old North Church, both of whom noticed the need for a clearer wayfinding tool for visiting Boston's historic sites.
Congratulations ๐๐๐ to our son, who earned the Biology Award from our local high school. Itโs given to โthe highest achieving student in biologyโ
This man's life is so obscure that we are not even sure what he looked like, yet his signature is worth more than a Picasso sketch and historians have hunted it like buried treasure for two centuries. The strange afterlife of Button Gwinnett is one of the wildest stories of the Founding era.
Start with the name. Button Gwinnett. He was born in England, the son of a Welsh clergyman, and "Button" was his godmother's surname, not a nickname. One of only eight signers of the Declaration who were born across the ocean in the country they were about to rebel against.
His actual life was a string of failures. He sailed to America, tried being a merchant, and went broke. He bought a big plantation on St. Catherine's Island in Georgia on credit, tried planting, and sank into debt so deep he lost most of it. By his early 40s he was a struggling, ambitious nobody on the edge of the colonies.
Then the Revolution gave him a second act. Georgia sent him to the Continental Congress, and in 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence. He rocketed upward fast, even serving briefly as the acting governor of Georgia in early 1777.
And that is where the ambition turned fatal. Gwinnett wanted to lead Georgia's troops, but the command went to a rival named Lachlan McIntosh. The two men blamed each other for a botched invasion of British Florida, and McIntosh publicly called Gwinnett "a scoundrel and lying rascal."
In that era, you could not let that stand. Gwinnett challenged him to a duel. On May 16, 1777, the two men stood twelve paces apart and fired. Both were hit. McIntosh recovered. Gwinnett's leg wound turned gangrenous, and three days later he was dead, becoming the very first signer of the Declaration of Independence to die, less than a year after signing it.
Here is where it gets strange. Because Gwinnett died so early and was so obscure before fame found him, almost nothing he ever wrote survived. Only about 51 documents bearing his signature are known to exist on the entire planet.
That scarcity created a frenzy. Wealthy collectors obsessed with owning a complete set of all 56 signers found that 55 were gettable and one was nearly impossible. Button became the missing piece, the white whale of American autographs.
The prices are staggering. A single Gwinnett signature has sold in the range of $700,000 or more, and a complete signers' collection anchored by his name closed at roughly $1.4 million. Drop for drop, his ink is one of the most valuable substances in the country. A failed merchant who died broke now signs the most expensive autograph in America.
And the final twist: today millions of people know his name and have no idea why. Gwinnett County, Georgia, a sprawling piece of metro Atlanta with nearly a million residents, is named after him. More people live in his namesake county than ever read a word he wrote.
He failed at almost everything he tried, died in a pistol fight over wounded pride within a year of his one great achievement, and somehow became immortal twice over, as a million-dollar signature and a county full of people who never knew the broke, hot-tempered Englishman they were named for.
Tarik Skubal will start in Cleveland against the Guardians on Saturday, just 38 days after undergoing surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow.
With a vote for independence likely, #OTD in 1776, the Continental Congress formed the "Committee of Five" to draft a declaration announcing the birth of our nation. Thomas Jefferson served as the primary author. All members of the committee are carved into the front of the Jefferson Memorial. #WashingtonDC #Freedom250
Plan Your Arrival-
Parking and Access:
Coming to the Big Boy Reunion event at Steamtown National Historic Site? Already have your tickets from https://t.co/dLHEmT7H6B? Plan like a ranger with these parking and transportation tips!
โฟThere will be no general parking on site during this event. Limited handicap parking will be available, however, on a first come first serve basis. Please make sure to have official hangtags or license plates and plan ahead for if parking is full.
๐ ฟ๏ธParking is available in downtown Scranton, including street parking or any of 9 paid parking garages and lots located within the city. For more information on paid parking, visit https://t.co/XXgNiMLpaS.
๐Visitors planning to use rideshare options or taxi services should request to be dropped off at the Lackawanna Transit Center on Lackawanna Avenue or in front of the Marketplace at Steamtown.
๐Public transportation is available on regularly scheduled buses from COLTS and Luzerne County Transit Authority. Free parking and shuttle service will be available from Scranton High School, West Scranton High, and PNC Field. Shuttle service is planned from 8 am to 6 pm. *Please note that riders using bus services not a part of the shuttle loops must pay standard fares - cash only.
Please make sure to plan ahead and extra time for travel. Traffic delays are expected due to a high volume of visitors and road construction both within the city and on I-81 North and South.
Image: Big Boy Reunion parking map courtesy of the City of Scranton.
#SteamtownNHS #PlanLikeARanger #UnionPacific #BigBoy #BigBoy4014 #Scranton
I'm not crying, you are. For the last time ๐ฅ
Kieran McKenna's league record as manager of #itfc:
P: 199 W: 94 D: 59 L: 46 F: 338 A: 233 Pts: 341
Clean Sheets: 70
Wins to Nil: 59/94
Win % = 47%
Goals conceded in 94 winning games: 47
Photo: @ArtworkDays