History and the Red white and blue runs deep into the fabric of my very being.
Thank God for Greenfield Village to help keep my blood flowing~~~~
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We have crossed the line into the Semiquincentennial - America's 250th, and the commemoration of the American Revolutionary War has begun across the nation. I have heard numerous times from a variety of people that Greenfield Village has big plans to celebrate America's 250th - I look forward to that.
Today's post is a mix of the Bicentennial, the Semiquincentennial, and enjoying the red, white, and blue patriotism shown at Greenfield Village over the years.
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| Celebrating America's 250th by looking back---looking forward---and keeping an eye on the present. |
Now, this first section of photos you may have seen posted here before, and if you have, you may want to re-read it, for its significance plays a large role in what follows - - - and if you don't want to read it again, just scroll down a bit---I'm sure there are some pics that follow that you may not have seen---or may not have seen in a long time - - -
Since the first portion of this post centers on the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations of Greenfield Village let's begin with a few things I've posted previously, for it would not be complete with out them:
As is written in one of the books of the history of this Village and museum, "Telling America's Story:" The Bicentennial of American Independence in 1976 was a major cultural phenomenon. (It) heightened Americans' interest in their history. Museums and historical sites across the nation developed new programming to meet the needs of people looking to celebrate 200 years of American History. Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum were no exception.
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Looks like this was a special Bicentennial extra for visitors According to the handout, Greenfield Village, for "Independence Weekend, July 3-5, drew more than 43,000 visitors." |
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| A few reenactor friends of mine who were there told me it was shoulder-to-shoulder with visitors, and for the battle reenactment, they had to fire their muskets practically straight up into the air rather than simply at high elevation. |
I recall how desparately I wanted to go to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum during this time. I remember begging my parents to take me there to witness their Bicentennial celebration. After reading of the activities advertised in the local newspapers, it was something I so wanted - no...absolutely needed - to see!
Alas, I did not get to go.
But my friend, whose name just happens to be Ken, long-time Revolutionary War reenactor, did, and he told me first-hand how it was, for he was one of the participants who took part during the battle reenactments. He explained that there were so many people there that they could not hold a proper battle scenario; the soldiers had to point their muskets toward the sky - nearly straight up in some cases - as to not hurt any of the Village visitors.
Ken also mentioned that there were so many visitors there that they were parking cars clear down to the Southfield Freeway and shuttling people to the entrance gate.
My friend, Tony, was also there:
"On Sunday, July 4, 1976, I was ten years old. My family had joined the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment and I was the drummer. We all marched out in front of the Henry Ford Museum and various people gave speeches.
One of the things that stick out to me is that the Detroit TV weatherman, Sonny Eliot, did his weather forecast on Friday or Saturday evening at Greenfield Village wearing a British bearskin hat and holding a pike."
When I think about it now, I can only imagine the frustration and probable anger emanating from my Dad if we did go, given the overcrowding and lack of parking. I can just imagine my Dad's attempt to hold in his anger. I'm sure it probably would not have been much fun for any of us, and my hopes for a historical celebration of the Bicentennial would have been dashed.
Ah, still...lol
Well---we do have photos and stories from the period - - - - :
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| I really like these two magazine advertisements for Schwinn bikes, for both were taken at different locations inside Greenfield Village.
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"The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village launched its own vigorous calendar of Bicentennial activities, exhibits, and events. A special exhibit, The Struggle and the Glory, included more than 250 Revolutionary-period maps, prints, letters, and objects that told the story of America's struggle to become an independent nation. In this exhibit, visitors got a close-up look at an original Paul Revere engraving of the 1770 Boston Massacre. They gazed at a letter written by General George Washington and saw the camp bed he slept in during the latter part of the Revolution."
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| This book is a wonderful capture of early America and quite the souvenir, for it was sold in the Henry Ford Museum giftshop back in 1976. However, it is long out of print. Lucky for me, I found it at a used book store (on-line) in Vermont! |
The table of contents:
France & England in America 1755-1763
Colonial Life 1763-1775
The War 1775-1781
The New Nation 1781-1789
The following few photos were taken directly from some of this book's pages:
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| Here is a map - a lay out - of the exhibition area back in 1976~ |
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Page one of what was inside the exhibit.
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Please click the above With Liberty and Justice For All link for some amazing artifact photos inside the museum - many, of which, were a part of the Struggle and the Glory Bicentennial exhibit.
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Some of the furniture that was on display in the exhibit can still be seen in the museum's historic furniture area today.
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| The back of the book cover has an ode to local native Americans. |
And I finally obtained this:
When first brought to Greenfield Village, Henry Ford gave it a new name: The Clinton Inn. In 1982 the name was changed from the Clinton Inn back to the Eagle Tavern, for this was in line with Greenfield Village's new goals of making itself more functional and accurate.
The Logan County Courthouse from around 1840:
Over a decade ago, on July 4, 2014, Patty & I and a few friends set up a photo opp while no visitors were down near my favorite house, the Daggett House, built by Samuel Daggett in the early 1750s.
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| Oh! To have been able to visit that special year! |
This trifold was given out to the visitors who attended the museum and Village at that time, so I included its pages here. We can see inside the folds and know just how Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum celebrated that wonderful historical year of 1976, day by day, week by week, and month by month:
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From January through April of '76, most of the activities took place inside the Henry Ford Museum, being that here in Michigan we definitely are a winter state and it is cold during these months of winter & spring. If you look close you can see "The Struggle and the Glory" listed under "Special Bicentennial Exhibit."
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If I did go to Greenfield Village during that time, I just might have asked my parents to purchase this as a souvenir. Nearly 50 years after the fact and I now have one, thanks to eBay. |
Now, the following photos were emailed to me by a friend when I put the word out I was looking for Bicentennial items. He told me he got them from Ebay. These are the only "visions" I've seen of that amazing day.
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| Bicentennial Celebration at Greenfield Village (1976) |
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| Bicentennial Celebration at Greenfield Village (1976) |
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| Bicentennial Celebration at Greenfield Village (1976) |
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| Bicentennial Celebration at Greenfield Village (1976) Civil War and Rev War~ |
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| Bicentennial Celebration at Greenfield Village (1976) |
The next photo here is a picture of the 1st Michigan Colonial Fife and Drum Corps, and we have the little red Plympton House on the left, which also has a revolutionary past and ties to Paul Revere.
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| 1976 In these two Bicentennial photos taken by 1st Michigan Fife & Drum Corp, we see the fife & drum preparing, perhaps, to march into battle. That is the Plympton House on the left and Susquehanna Plantation House on the right.
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So, now we will visit the more recent Greenfield Village, all decked out in America's patriotic colors.
To see the old structures dressed with red, white, and blue flags, buntings, signs, and the like just, simply put, warms my heart and makes me stand a little straighter. I've always been a patriotic person, no matter which political party is in office.
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| During the Motor Muster event, which occurs over Father's Day Weekend - just about three weeks before the 4th of July - they have a Bicentennial vignette. To think...a time I lived through - 1976 - is now long ago enough to be part of a historical scenario. Hence the reason I am wearing my Bicentennial shirt here~
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The Suwanee Steamboat used to give visitors an idea of what it was like to ride along a river on a steam paddle boat. Oh! How I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of Americana, all patriotically decorated in our national colors.
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Travel by steamboat had been around since the very end of the 18th century and became a common method of travel well into the 19th and even early into the 20th centuries. These paddleboats have become part of the legend and folklore of early American life and I do not believe there is anyone over the age of ten that is not familiar with these symbols of early American travel.
Speaking of old-time travel - - -
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| Next stop---the Eagle Tavern |
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| The 1831 Eagle Tavern~ |
Early in the 19th century, a stage line was operated between Detroit and Tecumseh on what was originally an Indian trail. With the coming of the early settlers from the east, however, after the Erie Canal was built, it became the settler's route as well. As traveling increased and roads were made possible for stagecoach travel, taverns were built along this route. The first stage stop that comes our way on our journey west was originally known as Parks Tavern when it was built in Clinton, Michigan, around 1831. Parks Tavern was renamed the Eagle Tavern in 1849 and that name remained until the Civil War.
It was one of the first of the taverns built on this road, which eventually extended to Niles, Michigan in 1832, and then, by 1833, the road made it to Chicago, when it became known as the Chicago Turnpike, and finally the Chicago Road/US 12.
Semi-weekly stages were tried first, but daily coaches soon followed and, before long, there was double daily service, with extra coaches often necessary.
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A quick little patriotic vignette I set up at our table inside the Eagle Tavern as I a-waited my meal, giving it more of a colonial/Revolutionary War feel. I took this picture on the 4th of July in 2016. |
Taverns were the pulse of urban life, and their importance to the local community cannot be overstated. These "publick houses" (or 'ordinaries,' as they were also known) have played an important part in social, political, and even military life, though we see them taking more of a back seat in their role in our Nation's history.
Like the rest of 18th and 19th century society, taverns were male-dominated and, although women ran and worked in taverns, they were seldom patrons. Ladies just did not travel alone very often, and were usually under the protection of fathers, brothers, husbands, or male escorts.
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| At Greenfield Village, a horse-drawn carriage will take you directly to the tavern, just as it did nearly 200 years ago. |
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Jen Julet took this picture a few years back of the building where the Wright Brothers not only repaired and sold bicycles, but it's where they built the first true airplane. The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were American aviation pioneers who, in 1903, invented and flew the Wright Flyer, the first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft, which was created right here in this very cycle shop! But not inside Greenfield Villaage---it occurred while this building was still in Dayton, Ohio. |
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| I snapped this shot in 2025 - slight change in the window advertisements. |
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| The Wright Brothers House is always decked out in the patriotic colors! |
Buntings, particularly those in patriotic colors like red, white, and blue, gained significant popularity in the United States after the Civil War. While the use of bunting dates back to colonial America, the post-Civil War era saw a surge in its use to symbolize national unity and pride. This popularity extended to various celebrations, including state fairs, Independence Day, and political rallies.
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And there we see the Wright Brothers' House from the front. You do know about the Wright Brothers, right? Or should I write about that? |
Transplanting the birthplace and home of pioneer aviators, Wilbur and Orville Wright, as well as their Cycle Shop, to Greenfield Village in 1938 was one of the most significant projects of the 1930's. Originally built in 1871 in Dayton, Ohio, Henry Ford and Orville Wright were heavily involved in the restoration process and wanted every minute detail to be perfect to the year 1903, the era of their first airplane flight.
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This is the house that the two brothers were living in during their inventive period. |
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This photo was taken of Main Street from the side of the Wright House. This is another Jen Julet picture. |
Though the history of the Wright House remains as always - and how could it not? - it is sometimes used in different manners. For instance, during Motor Muster the exterior seems to work as a home lived in during World War Two:
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| During Motor Muster, over Father's Day Weekend, there are vignettes and scenarios going decade by decade, from the 1930s through the 1970s. For this picture we have the wonderfully patriotic time from the early 1940s and World War Two. |
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~The American Homefront during WWII~ Well, she was an American girl...raised on promises... (yes, I have the Tom Petty song in my mind here, not a WWII song) |
However - - - - a dance is held on the Saturday evening and, depending on the year, it could be an early 1960s, or a 1970s, and even a 1940s USO dance, which is great because they hire an actual "big band" to play (and sing) the tunes.
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| Just outside the Wright Brothers' House, there was a street dance put on by the USO: And it is at a 1940s WWII-era USO dance that can certainly get one In the Mood. |
During World War II, the United Service Organizations (USO) held dances at their clubs to entertain troops. Dances at USO clubs included jitterbug contests, swing dancing, and other popular dances of the time.
Between 1941 to 1947, more than 400,000 performances took place. These included famous entertainers such as singers like Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, and movie stars such as Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Lauren Bacall, to name but a few.
But Greenfield Village is nearly 400 years of (mostly American) history:
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~Welcome to 1900~ Kathy Brock took this shot of what could easily be the turn of the 20th century America. |
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Beckie & I, in our 1860s finest, had our likeness taken just before entering the replicated 19th century tintype shop during the Civil War Remembrance held at the Village over Memorial Weekend in 2014. |
Tintypes originally were cheap variations of the ambrotype. First described by Adolphe-Alexandre Martin in France in 1853, the tintype was patented by Hamilton Smith in the United States in 1856.
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| Inside looking out - the tin-type photographer's shop. |
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| I very much like this image that my friend, Carol McMann, took of my son, Robbie, who was portraying a Union soldier during Civil War Remembrance. |
The American Civil War: between 1861 and 1865, 10,000 battles and engagements were fought across the American continent, from Vermont to the New Mexico Territory, and beyond. The four-year struggle between north and south made heroes of citizen soldiers, forever changed the role of women in society, and freed more than 3 million slaves. In the end, 620,000 or more Americans were left dead in its wake.
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Good morning, America, how are you? Say, don't you know me I'm your native son... This is the 1873 Torch Lake steam locomotive~ |
The first two lines of the above comment come from a song called City of New Orleans:
The City of New Orleans is a well-written train song with a beautiful message. The haunting lyrics re-create a time some 50 years ago when people (still) traveled by train....from Chicago through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi to New Orleans.
Steve Goodman wrote the City of New Orleans lyrics describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans via the Illinois Central Railroad. He got the idea while traveling on the train for a visit to his wife's family.
Prior to Amtrak's formation in 1971, the train was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad along the same route.
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| The Edison is based on a locomotive built about 1870. |
Steam locomotives were invented in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century. Richard Trevithick, a British mining engineer and inventor, built the first full-scale working steam locomotive in 1804.
In America, the first successful steam locomotive was the Tom Thumb, which was built in 1827 and was used by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
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Firestone Farm showing the 1880s. This was a 100+ degree day - yes, we were hot in all those clothes! (a pic taken on July 4, 2012) |
Firestone Farm is a real working farm - the boyhood home of Harvey Firestone, the tire magnate - and all the 1880s farm chores are done in the same manner as they would have been done at that time, whether cooking and cleaning inside the house or farm labor in the fields, including plowing by horse, planting, and harvesting.
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| Even the inside of Firestone Farm is ready for the 4th of July! |
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| Chris Robey took this shot from Firestone Barn. Looks like we're in America!! |
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The 1840 Logan County Courthouse where "circuit-riding lawyer," Abraham Lincoln, practiced law before becoming our 16th President. |
"Circuit-riding lawyer," meant he regularly traveled throughout the Eighth Judicial Circuit in central Illinois to attend court sessions in different counties, essentially "riding the circuit" by horseback or carriage to reach various court locations throughout the year. And this Logan County Courthouse was one of his stops.
American history - how cool is this??
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| Here is Patty and I in front of the Courthouse building. Even though it was built in 1840, its look hearkens back to a much earlier time. This was taken on July 3, 2023 during Salute to America. |
General stores originated from trading posts in the 18th and 19th centuries. These stores were established in remote communities where people had limited mobility. Many store owners started as peddlers who sold their goods to communities, and would eventually settle in communities where they could make a profit.
From what I've read, these store-types may have originated in Finland, but more histories tend to cite they having their roots in trading posts.
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The J.R. Jones General Store was built in the mid-1850s in Waterford, Michigan (about 30 miles north of Detroit) and brought to Greenfield Village before there even was a Greenfield Village, for it was part Henry Ford's initial plans. And now it is like stepping back in time to the 1880s. And how perfect to catch the horse-drawn omnibus going past. Omnibuses were enclosed horse-drawn vehicles used for public transportation and for general utilities in 19th century cities. |
When you hear of the decade of the 1880s, do you think of the fabled "old west" like I do?
It seems like most cowboy movies I remember watching years ago depicted that decade more than any other. And how about the actual well-known old west outlaws and lawmen who made the papers during the 1880s, such as Billy the Kid (who died in 1881), Jesse James, who was killed in 1882, wealthy cattle baron John Chisum, who died in 1884, the gunfight at the OK Coral involving Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp which took place in 1881, and famous Native Americans, Geronimo and Sitting Bull, both still making news that decade?
Yep---this actual building was serving folks in Waterford, Michigan during that very same time!
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| From what I've been told, although these are original omnibuses, they have been reconfigured so often that they lost whatever historical value they may have held. |
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| My wife, Patty, & I on July 3, 2022, standing on the porch of the General Store, enjoying the activities of the Village's Salute to America event. |
The practice of flying flags at homes became widespread in the United States during the mid-to-late 19th century, particularly following the Civil War, as a way to show patriotism and national pride, although the concept of displaying flags at homes existed much earlier.
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| The white house there on the distant right is the birthplace of Henry Ford (1863). In the center we have a historic Stover Windmill, from about 1883, and is similar to one purchased by William Ford, Henry Ford's father, and used on this farm in its original location. The brown building on the left may not be original, but more of a replication of one of the outbuildings. |
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| At the Ford House they are celebrating America's Centennial - 1876~ I do like the window decore'
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A few days before July 4th, I came up with the idea to bring along to the Village my Betsy Ross flag that I was given for Father's Day in an attempt to replicate and capture, in feeling and in spirit, that time in the late spring and early summer of 1776 when, as the story has been told, Betsy Ross sewed the flag that we now recognize as the first American flag.
So, there we were, on the 4th itself, at historic Greenfield Village. We had to do the poses quickly while there were no visitors around. I try to be as least disruptive as I can, for I do appreciate Greenfield Village tolerating me in my little historical excursions.
Luckily, we were able to take around a dozen pictures before visitors came.
The following are some of the best:
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| Sort of replicating/reenacting Betsy Ross (and friends) sewing the most famous (and could very well be the first) American flag. That's my wife, Patty, in blue. |
Well! It looks like the ladies have finished and are ready for presentation!
I have to admit, this was a very special moment to have them posing in this way. Almost magical. Wouldn't it be great if we were allowed to utilize such a structure for a day or two to present in this manner?
Unfortunately, there are those who would like nothing more than to disparage all of the deeds of our American heroes. Betsy Ross is one example. Did she sew the first American Flag for the United States or didn't she?
Well, there's no documented proof either way.
However, Ross has something going for her that many conveniently overlook:
There is an affidavit of Rachel Fletcher, a daughter of Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Claypoole):
The affidavit begins with "I remember having heard my mother Elizabeth Claypoole say frequently that she, with her own hands, (while she was the widow of John Ross,) made the first Star-spangled Banner that ever was made." They say it was Betsy Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, who first shared the story of his grandmother making the first American flag. Canby presented a paper on the subject to the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1870. And this is not acceptable why? I mean, family stories have been passed down for generations and centuries beforehand (including by Native Americans), which are accepted almost without question, but for some reason Betsy's own daughter's affadavit is conveniently overlook.
There is an affidavit of Rachel Fletcher, a daughter of Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Claypoole):
The affidavit begins with "I remember having heard my mother Elizabeth Claypoole say frequently that she, with her own hands, (while she was the widow of John Ross,) made the first Star-spangled Banner that ever was made." They say it was Betsy Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, who first shared the story of his grandmother making the first American flag. Canby presented a paper on the subject to the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1870. And this is not acceptable why? I mean, family stories have been passed down for generations and centuries beforehand (including by Native Americans), which are accepted almost without question, but for some reason Betsy's own daughter's affadavit is conveniently overlook.
I suppose it just doesn't fit the narrative they're trying to push?
Hmmm...
Hmmm...
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| Here it is! The finished flag, ready to be presented to General Washington! The ladies did a fine job, don't you think? I think he will be impressed as well~ |
Everything we did here we did while there were no visitors around. I made sure not to intrude upon the presenters doing their job.
An interesting fact about Samuel Daggett that I discovered is that he helped to defend the Colony of Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, and was apparently stationed in the State House in New London. In 1774, during a town meeting in Coventry, citizens agreed to a non-importation agreement.
Mr. Daggett also paid for someone named Jacob Fox to take his son Isaiah's place in military duty so that the young 17-year-old could stay home and tend the farm. Coventry sent 116 men to Lexington at the start of the war. The community also sent clothing and supplies to aid the war effort.
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| There's the front facade of the Daggett House, and there I am, hanging this new flag outside the window, showing to whom I pledge my allegiance. |
One can only imagine the discussions and probably even debates the Daggett family & friends may have had of the news of the day - how wonderful it would be to be able to hear conversations and opinions about Paul Revere's famous ride (for it actually did make the papers/broadsides of the time), of the Revolutionary War itself, their thoughts on the Declaration of Independence, the forming of the new nation with its own Constitution, and hearing of George Washington becoming our first president...as it was happening!
And Ben Franklin certainly was a household name!
I mean, if the Daggett house walls had ears, they most certainly would have heard at least some talk about these great events and people.
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| Flags during this time would have been flown on ships and at forts - they were rarely seen around homes in 18th century America. |
While most structures inside Greenfield Village show the patriotic colors of the red, white, and blue, some houses, such as those that were actually around in 1776 (Daggett, Giddings, and Plympton), do not have any patriotic décor at all!
Now why is that?
Because during the time of the Revolutionary War, patriotically decorating your house just did not happen.
This loyal attitude around the flag and national colors was largely a "military ensign or a convenient marking of American territory" that rarely appeared outside of forts, embassies, and the like until the opening of the American Civil War in April 1861, when Major Robert Anderson was forced to surrender Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor to the Confederates. Anderson was celebrated in the North as a hero, and U.S. citizens throughout Northern states embraced the national flag to symbolize U.S. patriotism and the rejection of secessionism. Historian Adam Goodheart wrote:
For the first time, American flags were mass-produced rather than individually stitched, and even so, manufacturers could not keep up with demand. As the long winter of 1861 turned into spring, that old flag meant something new. The abstraction of the Union cause was transfigured into a physical thing: strips of cloth that millions of people would fight for, and many thousands die for.
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| Down on Main Street... Yes, this is the business district portion of Greenfield Village during Salute to America. Looks like small-town USA! |
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My friend, Charlotte, captured the moment I spoke with the young man about history while in the souvenir shop. He wanted to know who I was. "Why, I am Paul Revere, my fine lad!" This was a very enjoyable experience. And one of my favorite pictures. |
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Here we have the 18th century fife and drum sound with the 1st Michigan Colonial Fife & Drum Corps. I took this picture on July 3, 2022. |
"Military music, or field music, wasn’t a new concept in the 18th century. It served a vital role in a time before radio: communication. There was both a need for something loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the battlefield, as well as a tool that could communicate different messages. Fifes and drums fit these needs perfectly.
On the battlefield, musicians were stationed behind their companies and communicated the orders of the officers with their music." (Colonial Williamsburg)
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| Taken on July 3rd at the Salute to America event. |
"American musicians were typically dressed in the reverse colors of the soldiers they were stationed with. This was done so commanding officers could quickly find and relay orders to the musicians as well as to identify the musicians as non-combatants on the battlefield. Ideally, every company of soldiers would have a fifer and a drummer."
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| We can enjoy 19th century American folk tunes with Neil Woodward and Ranka Mulkern on the porch of the 1831 Eagle Tavern. Perhaps the finest purveyors of old American folk tunes in our area---or maybe anywhere else. True Americana~ |
American folk music in the 19th century included folk songs, hymns, spirituals, and work songs, as well as popular dances. Folk songs were a major part of the popular music in the United States during the 1800s, and Stephen Foster (1826–1864) was, perhaps, considered the greatest composer of folk songs. "Camptown Races" (1850), "Nelly Bly" (1850), "Ring de Banjo" (1851), "Old Folks at Home" (known also as "Swanee River", (1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853), "Old Dog Tray" (1853), and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854), are but a smidgeon of the great tunes he wrote that are still known today, nearly 200 years later.
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| Then there is traditional 1930s American blues with the Reverend Robert Jones on the porch of the 1930s Mattox House. |
American blues music in the 1920s and 1930s was characterized by a national sensation: the rise of female blues singers and the growth of the "race records" market. Country blues was a rural sort of soul music style that relied on the expressive power of the voice and sparse instrumental accompaniment. And then in the 1930s, blues incorporated new instruments and styles, and was influenced by the Great Depression.
This man here, the Reverend Robert Jones, not only sings and plays the blues in the old traditional style, but gives us a history lesson before each tune he plays. Many we are quite familiar with, for the English rock bands like Cream and Led Zeppelin made them popular with the young white rockers of the 1960s and 1970s.
It was on the 4th of July in 2021 - still during the Covid scare - and we sort of did our own Declaration scenario. I had an idea what I wanted to do, and since there were no visitors around, we did a photo op and set up our own little vignette of the reading of the Declaration of Independence, much in the same way it may have happened in towns across the newly formed states back in 1776.
Quaker Deborah Norris Logan was fourteen in the summer of 1776. In a diary she started many years later, she described what she saw and heard on July 4 of that year:
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"It is now a matter of doubt as what hour, or how, the Declaration was given to the people. Perhaps few now remain that heard it read on that day. But of the few I am one: being in the lot adjoining to our old mansion house in Chestnut Street, that then extended to 5th Street, I distinctly heard the words of that Instrument read to the people..." |
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
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Perhaps she did remember a few details afterall, for she then wrote: "...It took place a little after twelve at noon and they then proceeded down the street, to read it at the Court House. It was a time of fearful doubt and great anxiety with the people, many of whom were appalled at the boldness of the measure, and the first audience was (not) very numerous..." |
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
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| This was set up for Motor Muster, and since there was nothing inside and no tables set up, I snatched this opportunity for such a shot! Spirit of '76 indeed! My daughter took this awesome picture. |
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| 3rd of July, 2023~~~ |
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| I don't often post photos of Town Hall, which is facing the Village Green across from the Martha-Mary Chapel, but when I saw the Model T put-putt-ing past, I knew I had to capture the moment. |
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| The Heinz House~ |
What do you think of when you hear Heinz?
Ketchup, maybe?
This was where it was invented.
Ketchup, maybe?
This was where it was invented.
No, not ketchup---Heinz ketchup!
Well, whattaya know?
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| Well, they certainly asked us to show on short notice! |
We have our own Independence Hall right here in Metro-Detroit!
I love that we have an exact replication of Independence Hall – originally known as the Pennsylvania State house – in our midst here in Dearborn.
It’s so exact because Henry Ford spared no expense, and even included the same mistakes of the original in Philadelphia, such as the windows in the tower being slightly off center by a couple inches.
But it was at the original, on June 14, 1775 that delegates of the Continental Congress nominated George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, that Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin to be the first Postmaster General of what would later become the United States Post Office Department on July 26, 1775, and where the vote to approve the resolution for United States Independence happened on July 2, 1776 and was approved on July 4, 1776, hence the date on the document and our fireworks celebrations, and also where the Declaration was read aloud to the public for the very first time, which happened "officially" on July 8, 1776. However, an eyewitness was Charles Biddle, later Vice President of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council, and he wrote, “On the memorable Fourth of July, 1776, I was at the Old State-House yard when the Declaration of Independence was read. There were very few respectable citizens present.”.
By the way, key members of the First Congress (1774-1775) included Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Jay, George Washington, John Dickinson, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee. The Second Continental Congress (1775-1781) saw the addition of members like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock.
Neither building - not the one now standing in Philadelphia, nor the one Henry Ford replicated - is historically accurate to the way the State House looked in 1776, for it has changed frequently and grown substantially since its initial construction (click HERE to learn more about that).
So here I am with my friend Norm discussing the proposal for our thirteen colonies to become The United States.
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| "So, Pastor Gerring, what are your thoughts on this vote for Independence?" "You & I have passed our lives in serious times..." |
We both agree that, yes, we should vote for Independence.
The 4th of July is in my top two favorite holidays – yes, I love all the pomp & circumstance and fireworks/illuminations and always have! This Patriot looks forward to it every year~~~especially now that we are at the beginning of celebrating America's 250th! As John Adams wrote back in July of 1776: "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Act of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of the Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
Happy Independence Day and month!
I look forward to the 4th of July celebrations as I do nearly any other holiday. My neighborhood - my city - becomes an amazing spectacle of the spangled illuminations that John Adams hoped for back in 1776.
I am slowly seeing patriotism fighting its way back into the hearts of Americans. Oh, there will always be the naysayng haters who can find nothing good in anything positive. And these are the same folks who are continuously negative unless things are going their way - no compromise allowed!.
I don't care. I love this country and I'm sure I always will. I've loved it through each president we've had that I can remember. And that drives some folks nuts - oh well.
So, yes, I am celebrating America---America250.
I hope Greenfield Village joins in the celebrations in a positive manner. I look forward to hearing their plans and seeing their plans put forth.
Links of my musings and histories of the American Revolution, click HERE
If you enjoyed this post, perhaps you might like THIS
Until next time, see you in time.
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If you enjoyed this post, perhaps you might like THIS
Talk about a Whiskey Rebellion - click HERE
American history as seen through the structures and collections at Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum - click HERE
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