WHY WE’RE HEREWe’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In towns across New England, antique canes or their replicas are bestowed on the oldest residents. Jan. 20, 2024For more than a century, when selectmen in Rye, N.H., honored the town’s oldest resident, the title came with a distinctive trophy: a gold-topped, ebony walking cane, engraved with the town’s name, that was theirs to keep for as long as they might live. But when the town feted its latest honorees in November — Marion Cronin and Barbara Long, born on the same day in 1921 — that cane was nowhere in sight. Instead, town officials presented a less fancy replica; the original was safely locked up in the town museum.

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Persons: — Marion Cronin, Barbara Long, Edwin Grozier, ” Organizations: Boston, Boston Post, Oldest Locations: New England, Rye, N.H, Rye’s, Boston, Maine , Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode, puzzlingly , Connecticut, Vermont