Have a Blast

The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument atop East Rock reaches high into the air.

It’s also highly meaningful, memorializing local casualties of four wars, not just one, including two that often get obscured by other conflicts: the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. Of the monument’s five symbolic bronze figures, the one at its peak stands for peace, while odes to four “virtues”—history (pictured above), patriotism, prosperity and victory—sit closer to the ground.

This Memorial Day weekend, patriotism, prosperity and victory will be celebrated across the land. But history? Maybe not. History’s aim is sober truth, and that’s no fun at a party. Then again, living in one of the oldest places in America, New Haveners know the past can be a blast.

Here’s to a happy and historical Memorial Day—

—Your friends at Daily Nutmeg—