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This year marks the Bicentennial celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of the United States! Throughout his yearlong tour of all 24 states, Americans honored Lafayette with a parade and great fanfare at almost every stop he made. Local craftspeople also produced many types of commemorative memorabilia, such as the pictured drum, baby shoes, and ribbon, now in the Old Sturbridge Village Museum Collection. When Lafayette toured the state of Massachusetts, his final stop was in the Town of Sturbridge, where he was greeted by a martial band, the Town’s artillery company, and thousands of civilians.
Commemorative Ceremony on the Sturbridge Common
Join us on September 3, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. for a commemorative event on the Sturbridge common, the exact ground where Lafayette stopped. An actor portraying Lafayette will be greeted by costumed interpreters portraying veterans of the revolution, members of the Sturbridge Artillery, who will stand by with their cannon, and the musicians from the Uxbridge Grenadiers. There will be a triumphal arch, toasts by costumed interpreters from Old Sturbridge Village, fife and drum music, and an opportunity for the public to make their own commemorative Lafayette ribbon. Experience the closest thing to the actual events that took place in 1824 here in Sturbridge! This ceremony is FREE and open to the public!
The commemorative event is part of The American Friend of Lafayette’s 2024-2025 Bicentennial Tour, which will take place across the 24 states that Lafayette visited on his Farewell Tour. For more details about The American Friends of Lafayette and other Bicentennial Tour programming, please visit lafayette200.org.
PLEASE NOTE: This commemorative event takes place on the Sturbridge Common on Main Street in Sturbridge and not at Old Sturbridge Village. There will be representatives from Old Sturbridge Village present at the event, however.
Banquet at the Historic Publick House
A white ribbon with an illustration of LafayetteAt 7:30 p.m., there will be a banquet commemorating Lafayette’s visit to Massachusetts and New Hampshire at the Publick House. Tickets are $75/person and pre-registration is required. Limited spaces are available!
Purchase Tickets to the Lafayette Banquet at the Publick House Here
The Publick House is one of the buildings that Lafayette actually visited in 1824. The dinner is the Publick House’s distinctive “Yankee Dinner Buffet.” Alan Hoffman, President of American Friends of Lafayette and translator of the account written by Lafayette’s secretary, will reflect on the contrast between the original tour and its just completed recreation. There will be an additional discussion of Lafayette’s human rights record. Members of the Colonel Timothy Bigelow chapter of the DAR will do a presentation on “Lafayette and the Ladies.”
Learn More About Lafayette and the Farewell Tour Odyssey of an American Idol
Recording of the 7/25/2024 Webinar
In this program, Alan R. Hoffman, Esq., President of the American Friends of Lafayette, will describe the full extent of Lafayette’s reputation and explore the origins of Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825, a first-hand account of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America.
At the close of the presentation, Peter Reilly, who sits on the planning committees for both the national and Massachusetts events connected to the bicentennial of Lafayette’s farewell tour, will speak about commemorative events taking place over the next year and how people can get involved.