Help us replace the Signal Rock flagpole!
Donation protected
Let's get together as a community and replace our historic flagpole. This will allow us to keep the American flag flying proudly in Woodmont for years to come!
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Borough of Woodmont officials have announced that the flagpole on Signal Rock has deteriorated to the point that it must be replaced.
"It is both ironic and sad that we announce today, Flag Day, that the historic flagpole that has stood atop Signal Rock for 125 years must be removed, and, we fervently hope, replaced,” said Edward Bonessi, Jr., Warden of the Borough of Woodmont. At their regular meeting on Monday, June 17, the Woodmont Board of Burgesses will discuss the future of the flagpole. The Borough is expected to vote to take down the weakening old cedar pole on Signal Rock and replace it with a new fiberglass one.
The steeplejack who has inspected the flagpole for the past 20 years told Bonessi that it should no longer be used. The Borough will ask for financial support from the community to help defray the cost of a new 40-foot fiberglass flagpole and the installation process. While still waiting for the official estimate, the replacement cost should be under $10,000. Bonessi also said that someone will be setting up a “Go Fund Me” in the coming days.
The venerable Signal Rock flagpole dates back to about 1881 when it was an 8-foot pole used to mark the oyster bed boundary in the vicinity. It was designated as a “post” by the State Shellfish Commission as a landmark which served as a surveying point to mark the oyster lots nearby in Long Island Sound. These landmarks, such as flagpoles, church steeples, lighthouses, water tanks, etc., were called “signals,” hence the name “Signal Rock."
Around 1895, the Woodmont community erected the approximately 40-foot flagpole, which served the same “post” function. According to the late John H. Volk, life-long Woodmont resident and former director of the Connecticut Bureau of Aquaculture, “little is known about the origin of the flagpole, except that it was made of cedar and had a 12-inch diameter. It was originally about 80-feet tall and used as a mast atop a sailing ship with a yardarm and cross rigging.”
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Borough of Woodmont officials have announced that the flagpole on Signal Rock has deteriorated to the point that it must be replaced.
"It is both ironic and sad that we announce today, Flag Day, that the historic flagpole that has stood atop Signal Rock for 125 years must be removed, and, we fervently hope, replaced,” said Edward Bonessi, Jr., Warden of the Borough of Woodmont. At their regular meeting on Monday, June 17, the Woodmont Board of Burgesses will discuss the future of the flagpole. The Borough is expected to vote to take down the weakening old cedar pole on Signal Rock and replace it with a new fiberglass one.
The steeplejack who has inspected the flagpole for the past 20 years told Bonessi that it should no longer be used. The Borough will ask for financial support from the community to help defray the cost of a new 40-foot fiberglass flagpole and the installation process. While still waiting for the official estimate, the replacement cost should be under $10,000. Bonessi also said that someone will be setting up a “Go Fund Me” in the coming days.
The venerable Signal Rock flagpole dates back to about 1881 when it was an 8-foot pole used to mark the oyster bed boundary in the vicinity. It was designated as a “post” by the State Shellfish Commission as a landmark which served as a surveying point to mark the oyster lots nearby in Long Island Sound. These landmarks, such as flagpoles, church steeples, lighthouses, water tanks, etc., were called “signals,” hence the name “Signal Rock."
Around 1895, the Woodmont community erected the approximately 40-foot flagpole, which served the same “post” function. According to the late John H. Volk, life-long Woodmont resident and former director of the Connecticut Bureau of Aquaculture, “little is known about the origin of the flagpole, except that it was made of cedar and had a 12-inch diameter. It was originally about 80-feet tall and used as a mast atop a sailing ship with a yardarm and cross rigging.”
Organizer
Edward Bonessi
Organizer
Milford, CT
