Downtown Mystic Gets Its Flagpole Back

Downtown Mystic's missing flagpole will be missing no more. The Mystic flagpole or Liberty Pole returns to its home at the intersection of Route 1 and Holmes Street today, weather permitting.

The , which manages the Liberty Pole and Liberty Square Park, removed the Liberty Pole in June 2011 to undergo repairs at the . Shipwrights at the Mystic Seaport, however, found that the lower and topmasts were so rotted they couldn’t be repaired.

PLP Composite Technologies of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire constructed a new Liberty Pole out of fiberglass.

“Our hope is that the new fiberglass material will not require any further work for the next fifty years or more,” said John Symons, President of the Mystic Flag Committee.

The removal, assessment, replacement and reinstallation of the Liberty Pole cost $40,000. The Mystic Flag Committee raises money for the maintenance of Liberty Pole, Liberty Square Park and for the placement of American flags along the sidewalks of downtown Mystic for special occasions.

This isn’t the first replacement of the Liberty Pole. According to the Mystic Flag Committee the Liberty Pole came to Mystic on May 17, 1862 but didn’t move to its Holmes Street and Route 1 location until October 1886. The lower and topmasts of the flagpole were replaced between 1904 and 1906 and the topmast was again replaced in 1938 while the lower mast was replaced for the second time in 1986.

For more information about the Mystic Flag Committee visit www.mysticlibertypole.com.