Colors of Defiance / From a Powdered Wig to the Powder House

On January 1, 1776, under General George Washington's command, General Israel Putnam committed a bold act of defiance against the British by flying the first flag of the united colonies, known as the Grand Union, from the top of Prospect Hill. During the Revolution, the hill was home to a crucial defensive fort and a prisoner of war camp. With bitter irony, the British called it Mt. Pisca, the name of the biblical mountain where Moses died in sight of the promised land. By 1872, Somerville had grown from a quiet farming community into a bustling manufacturing center surrounded by graceful neighborhoods and was ready to become a city. For its official seal, Somerville chose the proud image of General George Washington raising the first colonial flag from the top of Prospect Hill. In 1972, celebrating the city's 100th birthday, Somerville adopted its current seal featuring the Powder House, the state's oldest stone building.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States