Boscawen unveils town flag

The town of Boscawen's new town flag.

The town of Boscawen's new town flag. Courtesy

By JEREMY MARGOLIS

Monitor staff

Published: 08-25-2024 2:00 PM

After several months of sifting through community feedback and tinkering with designs, Boscawen now has an official town flag.

The town’s Select Board voted last week to approve the flag, which is the work of town resident Josh Crawford. Crawford first proposed creating a flag at Boscawen’s town meeting earlier this year. 

“We can control the imagery and character of our town with a great flag,” Crawford wrote in a video unveiling the final design. “It is something that represents a town to its people and its people to the world at large. Every great town deserves a great flag.”

The “Elder Tree” flag – composed of four distinct color bands – is packed with symbolism.

The green of the top band represents Boscawen’s agricultural history and lifestyle, while the three elder trees (which also show up on Boscawen’s town seal) symbolize the fertile soil of the town’s farmland. The three trees also represent the past, future, and present and allude to “how our roots are entangled throughout all generations,” Crawford wrote.

The black stripes of the next band represent how Routes 3 and 4, which come together in Boscawen, serve as “the crossroads of New Hampshire.” The white stripe in the middle, which includes six stars and the words “Lest We Forget,” pays homage to the state Veterans Cemetery there.

The third band includes the dark blue path of the Merrimack River, which serves as the eastern border of the town.

The bottom band represents the forest and wildlife of the town and it is at the bottom to connote “growth from the ground up to the tree tops” in the top band. The wheelbarrow clock mechanism imposed on the band represents Boscawen’s industrial past and modern industrial economy. The mechanism was designed by a Boscawen clock-maker in 1816.

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The final design was the product of feedback from approximately 150 residents. Initial designs were criticized by one resident because most of them included the town’s Hannah Duston statue and Boscawen Congregational Church. Mark Barker, 75, believed including the statue would suggest the town is honoring Duston’s murder of 10 Abenaki people in 1697, while including the church would violate the Constitution’s guarantee of a separation between church and state.

Crawford was receptive to Barker’s feedback and removed both symbols. Crawford is a vexillologist, which means he studies flags.

In creating a flag, Boscawen joins at least 24 cities and town in the state, including ConcordLaconia and Windham, according to the website CRWFlags.

It’s not yet clear where and when Boscawen’s flag will fly, but if Concord is any inspiration, it could grace the background of the town’s Select Board meeting room.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.