NEWSLETTER
Newburgh, NY …. February 14, 2019) When someone like General George Washington has a birthday, one day to celebrate just isn’t enough. At least that’s how we feel at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site, in Newburgh, and why we are having three days of fun and festivities in honor of him – Saturday, February 16th, Sunday, February 17th and Monday, February 18th, 12 PM until 4 PM.
Join us in singing “Happy Birthday” to the General, who will the start the festivities each day by cutting into his birthday cake. Then explore all that each day offers - music, military demonstrations, topical talks, and a take-home craft - something for everyone!
Each day the General will greet visitors in his headquarters, joined by Martha on Sunday and Monday. Balladeer Thad McGregor will offer musical entertainment. On the grounds, reenactors will perform military drills culminating at the end of the day with a review of the troops by the General himself. Troops present each day are: Saturday – the 5th New York Regiment, Sunday – Lamb’s Artillery and the Morgan Rifle Corps, and the 4th Connecticut Regiment, and Monday – the 5th Connecticut Regiment.
Pick up some interesting historical knowledge with talks each day. For example, on Saturday, Dawn Elliott, from Locust Lawn, will speak about “The Legend of Claudius Smith: Loyalist Raids and Their Lasting Memory.” On Sunday, Wade Wells, from Johnson Hall State Historic Site, will talk about “Eighteenth Century Trade Bale.” On Monday, Mildred Starin, from the Gomez Mill House, will discuss “Bringing the Gomez Mill House to the Public.”
As a special treat, The Washington Project: History Comes Alive! will take place each afternoon. Students from the Newburgh Enlarged City School District will present their own individually created theatrical and musical performance pieces featuring interpretations of historic events that took place while Washington was at his Newburgh Headquarters.
The Washington Project is a collaborative effort of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, Safe Harbors of the Hudson, and Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site. Funding for The Washington Project: History Comes Alive! is provided through the New York State Connect Kids to Parks initiative, a program of New York State Parks and the Environmental Protection Fund.
Admission for all three days is free, though donations are appreciated.
Support for the George Washington Birthday Celebration is provided by the Friends of the State Historic Sites of the Hudson Highlands, Palisades Interstate Park Commission and the Palisades Parks Conservancy.
For further information, call 845-562-1195.
Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site is a registered national historic landmark. It is located at the corner of Liberty and Washington Streets within the city of Newburgh’s East End Historic District. The site is one of 35 historic sites within the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is one of 28 facilities administered by the Palisades Inters Park Commission in New York and New Jersey. For further information contact: (845) 562-1195. For more information about New York State Parks, please visit our website at www.nysparks. com. For more information call 845-562-1195 or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/washingtonsheadquarters.
Help us save the Tower of Victory! The Palisades Parks Conservancy has completed a capital campaign to raise funds for the restoration of the Tower of Victory at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh, NY. The Tower of Victory is truly one of the treasures of the Hudson Valley. For 125 years, it has stood as the nation’s only monument to the lasting peace that came after the end of the Revolutionary War. Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of the President and then Secretary of War, commissioned John Hemingway Duncan, one of the nation’s most renowned architects at that time, to design the massive stone arched structure that hosts bronzes sculpted by William Rudolf O’Donovan, the pre-eminent monumental sculptor of the day. It stands on the property where General Washington created the “Badge of Military Merit” now called the Purple Heart medal.