…but not the National one. My home town, Marblehead, Massachusetts, is the Birthplace of the American Navy and the Yachting Capital of the World. The first is due to the fact that the first American Naval ship, the U.S.S. Hannah, was commissioned and set out to sea from Marblehead at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. The second is due to the fact that Marblehead has the best natural harbour on the East Coast of North America. The following few paragraphs are taken from the Marblehead.org website, a link to which is found under the title.
Marblehead is one of only a few communities that can claim title to an Official Town Anthem: Marblehead Forever. Popular with Marbleheaders since its composition in 1887, Marblehead Forever has been decreed by the Board of Selectmen as the town’s official anthem.
Marblehead Forever was written by Marcia Martin Selman. Born in 1856, Selman was an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She graduated from the State Normal School at Salem (now Salem State College) and taught at the Orne Street School in Marblehead. Longing to become a minister, she studied at Tufts Theological School and graduated in 1896. The Reverend Selman took preaching assignments in several locations, eventually returning to Marblehead as pastor of the Universalist Church.
Because of her involvement with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, her original composition included the line, “and from whiskey bondage we will keep her free.” This was later changed to, “and from all dishonor we will keep her free.”
The Reverend Selman set the words of Marblehead Forever to the music of the hymn tune The Lily of the Valley, from a melody by J. R. Murray, “Songs of Rejoicing,” 1888. The Reverend Selman died in 1932.
Note: I have tried to find an online version of the music that is as fast as Marblehead Forever should be played. I have failed miserably, as all online versions of the music sound like dirges. Marblehead Forever is to be sung quickly, sprightly, like the wind was at your back. Here are the words:
Marblehead Forever
Original lyrics by Marcia Martin Selman
Music by J. R. Murray
The men of old were heroes, who fought by land and sea,
to preserve their homes from tyranny and shame,
And enrolled among the bravest writ high in history,
Stands Old Marblehead, beloved and honored name.
CHORUS
Then Marblehead forever! God bless the good old town.
May she never shame her noble ancestry.
She was first in Revolution, was first in ’61.
And from whiskey bondage we will keep her free
The men of old were heroes but they are in their graves,
and ’tis ours, their sons, the battle now to fight.
For our homes and altars tremble, before the greed of knaves,
who assail the cause of God and home and right.
CHORUS
Then up and do your duty! Too long ingloriously,
did we sleep while Rum held undisputed sway.
Now, rally with your ballots, and let his hirelings see
that when first we drove him out he went to stay.
CHORUS
Now to be perfectly honest with you, not only has Marblehead remained a pretty wet sort of town, alcoholically speaking, but she wasn’t kept free from whiskey bondage for very long. There was a bit of smuggling from Canada to Marblehead by sea during Prohibition, and by the time I was born, less than 20 years after Prohibition ended, there were package stores (New Englandese for “liquor stores”) in town and a couple of bars, perhaps even more than a couple. We had a Town Drunk (almost an official title) who had a sad tale but who, when incarcerated in a TV sanatorium later on in life, met and married one of the nurses, moved out of town, and disappeared from our lives.
Now tomorrow is July 4th. There will be fireworks and an illumination of the harbour in honour of the Declaration of Independence. As a Brit now, I don’t suppose I ought to be celebrating. However, a Marbleheader, Elbridge Gerry, signed the Declaration of Independence and became the fifth Vice President of the United States, and the first one to die in office. Marbleheaders rowed Washington and his army across the Delaware. Even though I am now only tangentially and historically American, I am still happy to be a Marbleheader. Whip!
Elbridge Gerry, signed the Declaration of Independence and became the (I believe) second Vice President of the United States
How apt that the next-but-one entry in my friends’ list is about boundary changes, given that Elbridge Gerry is probably most famous here for giving his name to the practice of “gerrymandering”.
Happy Independence Day to you!
Yeah, and everyone mispronounces his name. It’s pronounced with a hard-G, not a soft one. The buses that travel out of Marblehead have a stop at Gerry Street, and every single time the automated voice pronounces it as “JER-ree” street. It’s like biting on a sore tooth.