Flagging...

This morning we crawled and fought our way to Williamsburg, or Colonial Williamsburg as it markets itself. The roads for some reason were dreadful and our juddering journey (only lightened by the spotting of a Hawaii plate) stole most of what would have been a magical day in the year 1775.

As it was we were able to enjoy the last hour or two here and it was thoroughly marvellous. Williamsburg is a small town now, but once it was the capital of the British colony of Virginia. By some miracle, and a lot of diligent restoration, 300 acres have been set aside and are presented as they would have looked on the even of the American Revolution. The Capitol and the Governor's palace have been rebuilt and the general effect is that of walking down a high street in a curiously spacious Georgian town in the eighteenth-century, albeit one that is full of 21C tourists.

As an historical recreation, it works on a much larger scale than others we've seen, with half a dozen working pubs and taverns along Duke of Gloucester Street alone. We had dinner in the King's Head and it wasn't just the food that was amazing with 18C-style furnishings, silverware and crockery.

But the most beautiful thing is that unlike the febrile revolutionary air of Boston or the pious native-bashing of Plymouth (and Plimoth) this really is British America, a crown colony on the verge of breaking free without having yet achieved it. Everywhere flies the Union Jack and very neat it looks too, but then we find this other flag, the one at the top of the page, and it hints at the troubles to come.

Spods and vexillogists amongst you will have already realised that it is the Grand Union Flag. It was used by the revolting colonists for a while before the Stars and Stripes was officially accepted in 1777 so it is, technically, a wholly American thing not to mention an act of rebellion in itself. But to us, British loyalists as it were, living in the New World, it seems to perfectly represent the colonial years. It's fascinating (and mischievous) for us to try and imagine how the colonies would have developed as part of the empire. Independence was not inevitable in the 1770s and 80s and some British mollification might have made the difference. And self-government would certainly have followed at some point and presumably much earlier than it eventually did in Canada and Australia. It's tempting to think that this flag would have done that other America suitable service as a national flag of a Commonwealth parliamentary democracy. But meanwhile, in the real world of 1775, it definitely sits nicely with the British-American community shown here in Williamsburg, with its Georgian sophistication and Virginian flavours.

I think we might even adopt it.