THE NEW England, coastal town of Bristol, Rhode Island, takes patriotism seriously as its Fourth of July celebration is the oldest and most continuous in the country.
Independence Day is a dandy in this town as American flags and red-white-and-blue buntings hang from Colonial- to Federal-style to Victorian homes. Window boxes brim with red, white and blue flowers, patriotic wreaths and wooden Uncle Sam statues decorate porches, and most decorations stay up all summer.
Bristol’s most famous landmark – a red, white and blue stripe down the middle of its main drag – which made its first appearance around the nation’s bicentennial – stays year-round.
Families have cookouts and picnics all over town and eat Italian sausages, Portugese chorizo, chowder and quahog-studded fritters as they watch the parade.
Located midway between Providence and Newport, Bristol sits on a claw-shaped peninsula, with much of its coastline along the Narragansett and Mount
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