An angelic place, filled with flags and near to knowledge
Travelers who take side roads sometimes find themselves driving back in time to a small town bedecked with American flags, like a movie set for “The Music Man.”
Such a town in western New York State bears the celestial name of Angelica. It comes complete with a town square, spired churches, antique stores and plenty of star-spangled banners. That image will be reinforced when the village hosts its 12th annual Civil War reenactment, September 25-27.
Members of the Boy Scouts and others recreate the 136th Volunteer New York Infantry, which was nicknamed “the Ironclad” when it was formed in 1862. The reenactors’ goal is to “teach American history through portraying the lives of Volunteer infantry soldiers and civilians during the Civil War.”
The unit’s history, written after the war, records that it “fought its first battle at Chancellorsville, losing a few men killed, wounded and missing; and was heavily engaged at Gettysburg on the first two days of the battle, losing 109 in killed, wounded and missing.”
According to information from the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, “the unit’s [swallowtail] guidons…include 34 gold painted stars in…the typical concentric circle pattern.”
Those flags, with a star for each state in the Union, won’t be the only banners waving in Angelica, which was named after the mother of an early settler. Stopping in the town on any day fills visitors’ eyes with multiple copies of Old Glory, waving from poles, decorating doorways and even draping a bike.
Not too far away, a college flag flies over Alfred University, founded 31 years after Angelica. It describes itself as “an institution of national and international renown….[It] is the second oldest coeducational college in the United States and one of the earliest nineteenth-century colleges to have enrolled African American and Native American students.”
Sometimes, AU is confused with nearby Alfred State College, both of which were named for Alfred, New York, which itself was named for Alfred the Great. AU salutes him through its sports teams’ nickname: the Saxons, a tribe in England during the king’s ninth-century reign.
Alfred University is very concerned about what it calls its Visual Identity Standards, including its seal. It “represents the authority of the administration,” the institution notes. “It is used for scholarly, ceremonial, presidential, and Board-related functions of the University….[It] is never to be used for decoration.”
But the seal does appear on AU’s purple-and-gold college flag, as does the seal’s Latin slogan: “Fiat Lux” – “Let There Be Light.”
A king who lived in the 800s, the Civil War, modern small-town life – you can time-travel by going to Angelica. It might be America’s Brigadoon.
(For more information about Angelica, go to http://www.angelica-ny.net/. For more about the reenactment, visit http://www.136thny.com/.)