The United States’ 250th anniversary is July 4, 2026, and Tryon Palace is jumpstarting the celebration.
“Rev War Day: Here Comes the 250th!” is set to start at 10 a.m. Saturday with a parade that will begin at the intersection of George and Broad streets, in downtown New Bern onto the Tryon Palace grounds and to the South Lawn.
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The 1st Regiment of the North Carolina Continental Line will lead the parade followed by the Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps, and area chapter members of Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution.
After the parade, the Fife and Drum Corps will perform, and the 1st Regiment will fire the Verbruggen 3-pound cannon. Attendees will be able to engage with soldiers at the military encampment on the North Lawn, watch and participate in musket drills, and about the horseracing that was going on in New Bern and vicinity during the 1770s.
At the neighboring North Carolina History Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be crafts and activities for all ages, including mapmaking, watch spinning, weaving, knitting and sewing demonstrations, as well as apothecary and medicinals in the American Revolution, which took place in the 1770s.
Two lectures are scheduled for that afternoon in Cullman Hall inside the center.
Frank McMahon, assistant site manager for Historic Halifax site, will present at 1 p.m. “North Carolina’s Black Soldiers in the American Revolution.” Hank Parfitt, Chair, Farewell Tour Bicentennial Planning Committee of Fayetteville, will speak at 2:30 p.m. on “Lafayette, the French, and Yorktown.”
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For more information, visit Tryon Palace’s website.
