— Photos by Donald Norton

The 239th annual “Grand Union” flag-raising ceremony at Prospect Hill Park was held on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 at 12 p.m.

A processional led by a re-enactor portraying General George Washington on horseback left from the City Hall Concourse at 11:30 a.m. Members of the public were invited to participate and encouraged to wear traditional colonial clothing.

The annual ceremony commemorates the raising of the nation’s first official flag, featuring thirteen red and white horizontal stripes, atop Prospect Hill on New Year’s Day, 1776. At the time, Prospect Hill was a key site in a string of fortifications created by Washington and the Continental Army in their siege of British troops in Boston during the first year of the American Revolution.

The afternoon’s program included songs, readings, and participants from the Ancient and Honorable Company (first chartered in 1638), as well as the Charlestown militia. The American Legion Post 19 Honor Guard led a military salute as a commemorative flag was raised atop the Prospect Hill Tower.