DUMMERSTON — When Kris and Stewart McDermet bought their home years ago on Butterfield Road in Dummerston, they discovered a surprise on the upper floor - a 12-foot-by-7 1/2-foot American flag from the late 1890s.
“Pretty serious patriots lived here back then,” said Stewart McDermet, who gave a talk about the flag at the quarterly meeting of the Dummerston Historical Society on April 20.
McDermet said the oversized flag had 45 stars, a design that was adopted after Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state on Jan. 4, 1896. Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state on Nov. 16, 1907, so the flag that the McDermets found is at least 110 years old, if not a bit older.
McDermet held up a picture of the house as it appeared at around the turn of the 20th century. The picture shows a large American flag flying on an equally large flagpole, which no longer stands on the property today.
However, McDermet said he later uncovered the pole.
“Digging around the house, I uncovered the remains of a large post that I think very likely was the flag post,” McDermet said.
The McDermets have offered the flag to the Historical Society, but they first would like the society to find someone to build a nice display case for it.