I worked at the historical society building yesterday afternoon.  We had some garments that had been airing and needed to be packed away, and when I had finished, I noticed a plastic bag that had what looked like American flags in it.  I hauled it out into the open and sure enough, there were all  kinds of flags in there.  And I mean ALL Kinds.  Among them were some real treasures.  Like one that said "You Are Not Forgotten" and "MIA-POW" - I'm not sure which war that would have flown on the community flag pole at Willey Memorial Hall, but it is a keepsake, for sure.  There was a well worn flag with the Vermont seal on it, and two very large 48-star flags.   Flags with 48 stars are not unusual, but there was also a 31-star flag, and that is more unusual.  There was no identification or information about any of the flags.

That 31st star was added when California joined the union in 1851, and became official on July 4th of that year.  Three presidents served under the 31-star flag:  Millard Fillmore (1850-1853); Franklin Pierce (1853-1857); and James Buchannan (1857-1861).  Minnesota and Oregon were added to the union in 1857 and 1857 respectively, and during the Civil War, Kansas (1861), West Virginia (1863) and Nevada (1864) joined the union. 

I counted the stars carefully, and believe there were three rows of seven alternated with two rows of five stars, but next time I'm at the building, I'll take pictures of all the flags for our inventory, and we'll likely display that one along with some Civil War items we have. 

I also found what I believe was the first the service flag that was displayed proudly over Main Street in Cabot, and celebrated by a special ceremony in May, 1943.  It has only a dozen or so stars.  The flag was probably redone several times, so the original one may have been abandoned and a new one made with stars added.  The flags were first made by the ladies of the Woman's Club,  and had a red border with blue stars.  As more men and women joined the service, stars were added by adding more length (and a different configuration of stars) to the existing flag (see picture below).   
 
Over 100 men and women from Cabot served in the military during WWII, so in 1944 the town had a flag 8ft. x 12 ft. made by a flag company.  This flag had a single gold star with "1" under it (for Ernest Maynard, killed in action in 1943), and a blue star with "103."  The numerals would change as more young men and women went into service or were killed.  I have no idea where this flag is, but originally it was suspended between two white poles that had been  set in cement between Rogers' store and Gardner's house. (This information from Cabot, Vermont, A Collection of Memories From the Century Past, published in 1999.)