New Star-Spangled Banner takes shape in Maryland
BALTIMORE — It was 200 years ago this summer that a Baltimore flag-maker stitched the flag that inspired America’s national anthem. Now, hundreds of people are helping to recreate the star-spangled flag.
The project began July 4 in Baltimore, and it is expected to take volunteers six weeks to hand-sew the estimated 150,000 stitches in the famous flag. When finished, it will be about a quarter of the size of a basketball court.
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“It makes the link with the past in a very tangible way,” said Kristin Schenning, who is coordinating the project for the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore and helping to raise the money for the flag’s approximately $12,000 cost.
The finished piece won’t look like the 13-stripe, 50-star flag of today. Instead, the flag has 15 stripes and 15 stars representing the number of states in the Union when the flag was stitched to fly over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in 1813. The sight of the flag’s broad stripes and bright stars still waving after the British attacked the fort during the War of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write his now-iconic lyrics.
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