July 4th public reading of the Declaration of Independence

The New Gloucester Historical Society will sponsor the fourth annual public reading of the Declaration of Independence at 9 am on Saturday, July 4, at the New Gloucester History Barn.  This year’s readers will be Amy Fryda, Steve Rogers and Rev. Linda Gard.

Perhaps you can imagine being in the barely-closed-in New Gloucester Meetinghouse when the Declaration was read to the town’s inhabitants by Rev. Foxcroft.

Did you know?  The Provincial Congress instructed that the Declaration of Independence be sent to every minister to be read from their pulpits “on the first Sabbath after they shall receive it.”   The text we will be using for our public reading is from one of these broadsides, printed on the evening of July 4, 1776, by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap.

T he public reading lasts only about 20 minutes. After the reading, the History Barn will be open for browsing.  Among the items displayed in the History Barn are the town’s horse-drawn hearse (torches, wheels, sleigh runners, and a compartment for ice—but, alas, no horse), several other horse-drawn vehicles, and many recent gifts to the collection

The History Barn is located behind the Town Hall on Intervale Road, in the Lower Village of New Gloucester.