Local historians prepare for nation’s 250th anniversary | Local

“That’s the plan,” said Teri Podnorszki Rogers, executive director of the Warren County Historical Society.

The region, due to its important War of Independence history, is expected to experience a boom in cultural heritage tourism that year.

A new state commission will work with historic sites and municipalities to plan a multi-year 250th anniversary celebration until 2026 inclusive, and to accept federal funding to distribute to various projects.

The new Joseph Warren Museum, on the Gurney Lane County campus, will add another attraction to the region’s mix of Revolutionary War history sites, Rogers said.

It is to be developed in a vacant house, next to the headquarters of the Warren County Historical Society, which the county once rented

Warren County was named in 1813 after Joseph Warren, a Boston-area physician who was instrumental in the early days of the American Revolution and was killed in action at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The planned museum will look like what Warren’s 18th-century home in Roxbury, Massachusetts would look like if it had been preserved.

The museum will display artifacts, paintings and memorabilia, including those from the collection of Shane Newell, a former Warrensburg resident who wrote the book “Joseph Warren and the Boston Rebellion”.

It would include a small theater for educational programs and an outdoor apothecary garden that would connect it to the Historical Society building.

Over the past year, the Historical Society, working with Newell, secured the support of the Warren County Board of Directors for the concept, established a steering committee, and hired LaBella Associates of Rochester, a company specializing in historical preservation.

In 2022, the Historical Society will begin seeking grants, Rogers said.

Some historic sites are already hosting conferences and presenting exhibits to begin with a multi-year focus until 2026, when Revolutionary War sites in the region are expected to have the greatest concentration of national advertising since a regional celebration in 2002 of the 225th. anniversary of the battles of Saratoga, considered the turning point of the War of Independence.

“We’re really at the start of it all,†said Sean Kelleher, vice president of the Saratoga County History Center in Schuylerville, which hosted a series of public lectures this fall.

Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts heads a commission that plans the 250th anniversary events across the county.

Fort Ticonderoga opened a new two-year exhibition last summer on the role of the citizen militia in the American Revolution.

The exhibition “A Well Regulated Militia: Citizen, Soldier and State†continues for the 2022 season.

The management of the fort is planning a series of events from 2024 to 2027 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the developments of the War of Independence in “real time” as they occur.

Facility upgrades are also underway and will be announced in the coming months, said Beth Hill, president and CEO of Fort Ticonderoga.

“Fort Ticonderoga’s 250th plan includes major investment initiatives, program development and educational outreach,†Hill explained.

In June, the State Senate and Assembly unanimously passed legislation to establish a 13-member state commission to plan a statewide 250th anniversary celebration and accept a federal funding to help municipalities and historic sites with programs and developments.

Members will be appointed to the committee as soon as Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the legislation, which was passed unanimously by the Senate and Assembly, said Assembly sponsor Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, MP. .