HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY & HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Not only is this July 4th Independence Day...

1776 The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

But also on this day in ...

1802 The U.S. Military Academy opened at West Point, N.Y.

1804 Author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Mass.

1845 American writer Henry David Thoreau began a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond near Concord, Mass.

1939 Baseball player Lou Gehrig, afflicted with a fatal illness, bid a tearful farewell at Yankee Stadium in New York, telling fans, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

1959 A 49th star was added to the American flag to represent the new state of Alaska.

1960 The number of stars on the American flag was increased to 50 to honor the new state of Hawaii.

2004 A 20-ton slab of granite, inscribed to honor "the enduring spirit of freedom," was laid at the World Trade Center site as the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower.

2007 The birth of our little blog, Rural Ramblings!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to us!
Hope you enjoy our missives and come back and visit often!