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General News: Annual Fourth of July Pageant

July 4th pageant. Photo provided by Steven Sirota.

Pageant members rehearse in 2007.

Fourth of July Historic Pageant—Living History Re-enactments—July 4^th, 2015

6:30 p.m. on stage near Rings Pond Gazebo, Town of Cornwall Park

Featuring Neal Miller, Cornwall Superintendent of Schools, as Narrator

www.cornwalljuly4thpageant.org or www.cornwall4th.org and click on PAGEANT.

Learn what happened around here to create a nation and a reason to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Scene list and cast of characters (subject to change):

• Cornwall’s first settlers: the Waoroneck tribe of the Lenape branch of the Algonquin Indians
• The Age of Exploration: Henry Hudson & crew with Native Americans
• First Europeans:  MacGregorie, Gomez, & Edmonston families
• Orange County’s First European Teenager: Sarah Wells & William Bull 
• The Legend of Murderer’s Creek—Stacy family, Chief & Braves
• America’s First Female Botanist—Jane Colden & family
• A Country Fair!—Sands-Ring family, Crafts & Games—settlers, musicians, & dancers
• Stirrings of Independence—Sam & John Adams, Cornwall Tea Party, Washington, Haym Solomon, the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben,  General Kosciuszko, Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson  
• The Declaration of Independence—Spirit of ’76, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, militia, British Grenadiers, Betsy Ross & her sewing circle
• Battle of Fort Montgomery—Generals George Clinton & Washington, militia, blacksmith Jonas Williams, Sir Henry Clinton & redcoats
• The Story of the Silver Bullet: the capture of a spy—British spy, militia, General G. Clinton, Dr. Higby
• The Midnight Battle of Stony Point—Redcoats, Generals Wayne & Washington, militia with cockades
• Heroine in Uniform—Deborah Sampson in disguise, with General Clinton and his troops
• Revolutionary entertainment at Knox’s Headquarters—George Washington & troops, General Henry & wife Lucy Knox, Lafayette, officers & ladies, minuet dancers
• Petticoats and the first Purple Heart: George & Martha Washington, Aide-de-Camp, Sgts. Churchill & Brown, American troops & officers
• The Statue of Liberty beckons to all—a nation of immigrants
• Finale-Epilogue: Native Americans, Hudson & crew, settler families, soldiers, dancers, musicians, first responders, veterans, special honors

Co-Producers: Peter A. Erwin & Sally Faith Dorfman. Music consultant:  Dr. Ruthanne Schempf. 

Special thanks to Chief Hazard/Town of Cornwall Police Department, Renata McGee/Town Clerk’s Office, Cornwall Central School District, The Living History Education Foundation, My Valet Dry Cleaners, Tom and Madeline from Toodles Hair Designs, Jim Kline, Cindy Topps, and pageant webmaster David Sirota. 

Script based upon pageants written and compiled by Dolce Stern Dorfman with Marjorie Schempf as music consultant, performed in Cornwall from 1952-1976, resumed in 2000.

The Cornwall Independence Day Committee, Inc., is now a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, accepting tax-deductible contributions at PO Box 542, Cornwall, NY 12518, celebrating our 65^th anniversary year with this 66^th annual celebration: “A community affair for the community since 1950.”

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