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.
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