All Aglow

After a night of heavy, heavy rain the skies have cleared and the sun is once again beaming down.  The dome of the Massachusetts State House is positively gleaming!

The State House opened in 1798, and at that time the dome was made of wood, which leaked.  Paul Revere came to the rescue by devising a method of rolling copper into sheets, and covering the structure to successfully solve the problem.  The dome was not gilded until 1874, and the most recent regilding took place in 1997 at a cost of $300,000.  Unbelievably, it only took six pounds of gold leaf (which was delivered to the State House in a shoebox) to cover the entire surface.  The pine cone topping the cupola on top of the dome symbolizes the importance of the lumber industry to early colonists, as well as being an emblem of Maine, which was originally a district of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.  History lesson over, class dismissed!