Known as Bells Across America, Let Freedom Ring, Freedom Bells & more — many communities observe it yearly, some only on special occasions. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, Joe Meis went to his parent’s bell collection and graciously rang his father Jim’s favorite, deep-toned bell 13 times to signify the original 13 colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence’ signing. Moments like this, in big cities and small villages, remind us we are one country. The bell originally came from a long-ago closed convent in Iowa.
