Maybe you’ve heard about America’s 250th birthday being in 2026. Officially, this is called a semiquincentennial.
While that is quite a big deal — even if many of us no longer agree on what the principles that created the United States mean today — the semiquincentennial is actually a years-long commemoration running from this spring until 2033.
That’s because the Declaration of Independence and the resulting creation of the United States of America at the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776 were part of a series of events that date to at least 1775 with what Ralph Waldo Emerson called the “shot heard round the world” and continued until 1783, when a peace treaty signed in Paris ended the American Revolution and recognized the sovereignty of the 13 colonies that became the U.S.
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Emphasis on at least because some could argue the semiquincentennial started in either 2013 or 2020, with 2013 being the 250th anniversary of the 1763 end of the French and Indian War that prompted a series of post-war British actions that infuriated American colonists, while 2020 marked 250 years since the 1770 Boston Massacre.
I’m going to avoid the debate — it’s just too academic for a travel column — and instead circle 1775 on the timeline released by the American Battlefield Trust as the start of the semiquincentennial, even if the officially established U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th birthday all but ignore this year’s commemorations as well as anything after 2026.
Richmond
The first date is March 23, the anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech during the 1775 Virginia convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond. Among the delegates to the convention were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
The Episcopal parish church, built in 1741, will host a March 23 reenactments of Henry’s speech, which gave intellectual and philosophical heft to the cause of American independence. As of this writing, tickets are sold out. Readers who still want to get inside on the anniversary are advised to attend the regularly scheduled Sunday service at 10:30 a.m.
If you go, book a room at The Jefferson Hotel. The AAA four-diamond and Forbes-recommended hotel is the place to stay in Richmond.
Lexington and Concord
Emerson’s “shot heard round the world” took place on April 19, 1775, in the small Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord when colonial militia and British soldiers from nearby Boston opened fire on each other. What transpired that day became the first armed conflict of the American Revolution.
Hundreds of authentically dressed reenactors will demonstrate what the 1775 skirmishes would have looked like during day-long programming on April 19 at Minute Man National Historical Park. In Massachusetts, the day is an official state holiday called Patriots’ Day (note the apostrophe). Lexington and Concord have extensive events planned for the weekend between April 19-21, which is also the weekend of Easter.
The park is located about 25 miles from the Boston airport for those planning to visit. Recommended hotels are Concord’s Colonial Inn and The Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington.
Williamsburg
If there’s one place to visit during the semiquincentennial it’s Williamsburg, Virginia.
Williamsburg is part modern city and part Colonial Williamsburg, as the preserved and partially reconstructed colonial capital that functions as an open-air living history museum is called.
It also serves as the anchor of America’s Historic Triangle, which includes Yorktown, where in 1781 American independence was secured with Washington’s defeat of the British during the last major battle of the war, and Jamestown, which in 1607 became the first permanent British settlement in North America and what 169 years later became the United States.
There’s never a bad time to visit, though the big semiquincentennial celebration here will come in 2026. Still, Colonial Williamsburg always has an experience for everyone. On a recent visit, I enjoyed “Revolutionary Points of View,” an evening program featuring historical interpreters and monologues that offer competing arguments for and against independence.
Beyond Williamsburg, the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown is a must-visit to discover everything you ever wanted to know about the era. The museum, part of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, far exceeds the National Park Service’s sorry excuse for a museum in the visitor center at the Yorktown battlefield.
Give yourself at least two full days in Williamsburg and a day in Yorktown. Stay at the AAA four-diamond Williamsburg Inn. The stately hotel, a blend of English country house and Southern plantation, twice-hosted the late Queen Elizabeth II, first in 1957 and again in 2007.
Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.
Dennis Lennox writes about travel, politics and religious affairs. He has been published in the Financial Times, Independent, The Detroit News, Toronto Sun and other publications. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter.
