![]() ![]() “I fell in love with the joy I got from helping others achieve their goals and becoming more confident in their abilities,” Somerville said. He worked nine years for the Liberty County Recreation Department before returning to the Liberty County / Armed Services branch, a place where he said he felt he could best serve the community. He was named sports director in 2005 and later sports and fitness director. Somerville started working at the branch in 2002 as a personal trainer, exercise instructor and volunteer flag football coach. “It’s an honor to promote someone who has proved over time his commitment to making the community a better place to live and thrive.” “Richard is just a great human being who not only loves the Liberty County community, but it loves him back,” said Krystal McGee, chief operating officer for the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. A self-described “military brat,” he is a native of Newark, N.J., and graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in business. Just as the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island proclaims American freedom, the Liberty Pole, in what would become Union Square, was the sign of freedom in Somerville.The YMCA of Coastal Georgia is promoting Richard Somerville to the position of branch director for its Liberty County / Armed Services YMCA branch. Had the Americans been aware of this misunderstanding, their attack on the British would have been no less devastating, as their emotions were fueled by the reverence that the soldiers had for the Liberty Pole. In reality, the smoke that they saw was emanating from the debris of Concord’s Liberty Pole, which the British soldiers had cut up and set on fire. It is said that on April 19, 1775, the already enraged Minutemen approaching Concord believed the British had set fire to the town. The French wore the cap during the French Revolution in emulation of the American Revolutionary War.Ĭenturies after the Roman era, the idea was revived in the American colonies, where liberty poles were erected in many towns and villages in the interest of dissent from British rule. ![]() The Phrygian cap is also the official emblem of France. It can also be found on early American coins and on the state seals of New York, New Jersey, West Virginia and many more. Also known as the liberty cap, it can be found on the official seal of the United States Army and the United States Senate. The cap was not by any means new to history and was worn by slaves in the Roman era demanding their freedom. A Phrygian cap is a red-woven hat symbolic of protest. Upon completion of the pole raising, it was topped off with a device known as a Phrygian cap. This occurrence must have been especially meaningful to one of its most popular members, James (Jimmy) Williams, an African American who was a member of the department since 1846. The men of the original Somerville Engine Company No. This 1853 gesture signified the desire to revolt against oppression and the South’s assault on the rights African Americans. Liberty Poles were erected as a symbol of freedom. Just eight years earlier, in 1853, Somerville’s firefighters erected a flagpole there, giving it that name.Ī prelude to the Civil War, this act occurred during a tumultuous time, when the North was in staunch opposition to the institution of slavery. Union Square was re-named from Liberty Pole Square in 1861. The fact is that the location of Union Square and Liberty Pole Square are one and the same. If you asked the same individual how to get to Liberty Pole Square, however, chances are they would have no idea what to tell you. Most Somerville residents could quickly direct you to Union Square. ![]()
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