Celebrating the Fourth of July and the 350th Year of the Town (1990)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead

Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
July 4, 1990

Pride handed down the generations

Two people like me, whose roots run deep in New England's history, a town with the rich heritage like Greenwich has a special place in our hearts. The history of such places, born out of humble and primitive beginnings, stands out within the rich mosaic of America.

Even today, we recall the early settlers and those who followed them. From them we have inherited an ethic of passing from one generation to the next special pride about this town that many, including myself, still call home.

It is appropriate that Greenwich should pause to observe the 350th anniversary of its founding. The year so far has been the scene of many efforts to recall that special connection to the past. Towns, like individuals and families, need to search within and retain that heritage in order to enrich its sense of self and destiny, to see where we've been so that we may chart a course for the future.

The year 1990 provides Greenwich with a special opportunity to reflect on our identity. By doing so we further encourage a new, refreshing confidence and assertion a traditional values derived from our historic past. Such a process of self-definition is a continuous one, and this years' festivities serve only of small part of that process. For me, this years' observance of our history becomes more personalized.

My attachment to the Town of Greenwich is not derived from the creeping glitziness and status consciousness that sadly -and I believe wrongfully- characterizes the new popular mystique Greenwich currently flirts with. My sense of infinity to this community is derived from a generational appreciation of traditional community purpose and resolve geared toward working cooperatively for the common good.

Our forbears probably did not realize the significance of the mission they embarked on a building new life for themselves in this part of the world. Their journey, which we continue today, involves a strong work and spiritual ethic in facing the hardships of planting fresh roots in a growing society.

Our 350th Founders Day enables people like you and me to cross through the portals of time to the historical past of Greenwich. Such a tour encourages both native and newcomer to join us in a penetrating and revitalized interest in that special town heritage we hold true to our pride. That shared interest of preserving and perpetuating the conservation of our physical and traditional heritage can serve us well as common ground for creating a vision of the future so sadly lacking today.

It saddens me that the town I grew up in has changed so much in such a short time, that its pulse is no longer timed by the changing of the seasons but instead by materialism, status-seeking, social climbing and pretension. Eric Sloane said that he was "indeed grateful for the good things of the age, yet I feel there were certain things of the past which were good and unimprovable… It is both my lot and pleasure to look backward, to search the yesterdays for such carelessly discarded wealth."

Regaining the purity of those precious yesterdays is not an impossible task, for the desire to work for such ends is grounded in the freedom and individualism we cherish yet often take for granted.

It is my hope that Greenwich will settle back, pause and enjoy the sustenance of warm breezes that I believe still are worth stopping for. My hope is that many of you will join in creating the extended family of Greenwich derived from its heritage. Slow down and visit Putnam Cottage, Bush-Holley House, our parks and seashores. Walk around the streets and view the rich historical architecture and support measures to preserve them from the wrecking ball. Visit the old burying grounds, where those who worked the land and built the houses and fought the wars, sleep forever. Behold the highways and byways bordered by miles of stonewalls that snake across the Greenwich landscape.

This is our shared inheritance, and our 350th year offers us the opportunity to once again taste the flavors of our past, and pass it on to those who follow. 

Happy birthday, Greenwich, and many more to come!

Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendent of one of the founding families of the town.