Our Town Seal is a component or our Town flag or banner as it may be. The town seal embroidered onto a Maroon and Gold Background and is currently displayed at town hall in the selectmans meeting room. But What is our Town seal all about? What Does it represent?
*The design of the seal represents a history of the Town in that the center crest, upper left quarter is an outline of Moose Hill which is the highest elevation of land between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. The upper right quarter represents the Gun House of the Sharon Artillery Company where armor was housed for fifty years. The bottom half of the crest design represents Lake Massapoag where iron was mined from which Colonel Richard Gridley cast the first cannon made for the revolutionary war in 1775. Above the crest there are two cannons crossed on cannonballs which represent the industry established in the Town.
The belt buckle knotted at the base with 2nd precinct 1740 commemorates the ecclesiastical separation of the Town of Sharon from the mother Town of Stoughton. The year 1765 represents the political separation.
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Although we never had any battles fought here in Sharon, our town is richly steeped in revolutionary war era lore. The representatives from our town did their part in the founding of our great nation both on the battlefield and behind the scenes. Town folks like, Job Swift, and of course Deborah Sampson, are but a few residents of our town contributing to the Revolutionary War cause. Colonel Richard Gridley who worked here in Sharon as mentioned above, but was a resident of Canton also helped put our town on the map.
Yet we really don’t have much public history representing that era nor are the sites and events of our town seal celebrated in any way. With the exception of Lu Stubbs statue of Deborah Sampson out in front of the library, a handful of old broken down signs slapped on some of the older homes around town and a few memorials up at Town Hall and Rock Ridge, can anyone tell me of anything out there telling any sort of story of our towns contribution to the Revolutionary war period.
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I have always envisioned that we had a dedication site to the first cannon cast for the colonial cause, situated up atop the hill, in front of the Community Center overlooking the lake. Nothing fancy, possibly a version of what’s on our town seal. A couple of cannons, a stack of cannon balls maybe a replica “Gunhouse” as also depicted on our town seal. Finish it all off with a plaque telling the history of it all. Is that too much to ask for? Maybe a few little memorial squares at the end of specific streets. Tolman, Capen Hill, Gridley and Mansfield Streets to name just a few potential dedication sites specifically to memorialize the freedom fighters of not only that era but of all eras. We should be proud of our small towns contribution to our great nation and not keep it to ourselves!!
*The description of our town seal came from the Sharon Police Department website in explaining The Sharon Police Department arm patch worn by law enforcement of our town. No author credited there.
