On a bluff at George's Harbor, St. George, Maine is a granite cross. The Weymouth cross was erected in 1907 by the State of Maine. On Allen Island, it marked the tercentennial of Maine. George Weymouth - captain of the Archangel - erected a cross and held the first religious ceremony by Englishmen. That 1605 event was commemorated in 1905 by the State with warships, dignitaries, and Governor in attendance.
The scenic spot - on Islands now owned by the Wyeth family - is a favorite of mine. The cross marks, of course a religious ritual by agents of James the Stuart King of England, soon to be conquerors.
Today the United States Supreme Court 7-2 allowed to stand the Bladensburg war memorial cross in Maryland. I concur in the judgment. American Legion v. American Humanist Assn, No. 17-1717 | Casetext
The Georges Harbor "Weymouth cross" on a remote island on the coast of Maine commemorates a criminal enterprise - the settlement of North America. The cross identified the State with the efforts and culture of the first Englishmen to explore and soon settle the region.
We would not erect such a cross today - not in Maine which has just renamed the October holiday Indigenous Peoples Day. But it is an historical artifact - evidence of both the original event, and the obliviousness of the conquerors' successors - the State's white overwhelmingly Christian majority of 1905. I would leave to the State the burden of explaining how our understanding has changed. Perhaps on the occasion of Maine's first Indigenous Peoples Day 2019.
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