American Independence Festival in Exeter New Hampshire

  My family and I have been meaning to visit the American Independence Museum in Exeter New Hampshire for about a year now, but up until today we had never visited it before. In Thursday’s edition of the Carriage Towne News— a free local weekly paper– I saw an advertisement for The American Independence Festival that was sponsored by the American Independence Museum as well as the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations; that settled it– today would be the day that we finally visited the American Independence Museum.

  We bought our tickets to the American Independence Museum, which granted us access to walk the ground where there were various displays set up showing the way various tasks were performed back in Revolutionary times. How interesting was this!?

  We watched a man making chair legs using a lathe that included a flexible tree branch that was secured in the ground at one end, with a rope tied to the other. The rope was circled around the raw stock of wood and then secured to a foot pedal on the ground. As the foot pedal was pumped it would spin the raw stock in the opposite direction, when the foot pedal was released the tree branch would flex upward, pulling the pedal with it, while at the same time spinning the raw stock. The carpenter would hold a blade to the wood while pumping the foot pedal, thereby carving the raw stock into a finished product. The man informed us that to make one small chair leg would take about 45 minutes.

  We saw women using similar machines to sew. And there was also a man “working the steel” with fire and a device that he would spin that introduced wind to a fire to heat the metal until it was pliable.

  We passed by the American soldiers’ encampment where Revolutionary soldiers were preparing to do battle with the British.

  Our ticket price gained us access to the Folsom Tavern, where George Washington once stayed after New Hampshire  chartered a branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. To be in a house where the father of the country once stayed was beyond words. There were several artifacts there from revolutionary time that were very interesting. There was an original copy of a book on military discipline written by Baron von Steuben– the man who transformed General Washington’s ragtag army into a military fighting force during the winter spent at Valley Forge– among other artifacts.

  George Washington then led a procession down Water Street that culminated with him speaking to the crowd, talking about his life and dispelling some popular myths about himself– from his wooden teeth to the cherry tree “incident.”

  Suddenly a man on a horse came galloping down the street shouting, “I have the latest declaration from Philadelphia!” This declaration was handed over to John Taylor Gilman, who read it  just as he did all those years ago in New Hampshire’s Revolutionary War capital.

  As he was reading the Declaration of Independence a voice cried out from the crowd, “treason!” We all turned to see a man dressed in Revolutionary garb crying out to declare the Declaration as treason to the crown, and shouting, “God save the King!”  But still John Taylor Gilman continued… even as the beating of drums was heard in the distance.

  The drums continued to get louder as the Declaration was read until British soldiers came onto the scene to heckle Gilman. As British soldiers decried the “mob” of American soldiers and the sedition being incited by the “mob,” the Declaration was read in full.

  Once the reading was completed, there were words between the British soldiers and the American “mob.” Eventually the British soldiers asked the man who had originally yelled “treason” if he felt safe. The man replied, “I fear for my life.” The British soldiers then said, “this man fears for his life and you call this liberty,” before offering anyone in the crowd protection by the King and his soldiers from the tyranny of the mob if they marched away with them to the British encampment.

  What a great recreation of how things probably went back then as people were torn between remaining loyal to the crown or seeking independence from it.

  After this recreation was over, we entered the American Independence Museum to take a look around. The museum had original printed copies of both the Declaration of Independence and the constitution. The museum actually had two versions of the original constitution– one copy was as it was originally written and the other was the final draft after the Committee of Style cleaned it up. The most interesting difference was in the opening paragraph. The original draft stated “we the people” and then listed the several states, before continuing “in order to form a more perfect union,”  whereas the final version, as well all know, states “we the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union.” 

  There are only 26 known original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence that were dispersed among the colonies to be read to the people, and to actually have the opportunity to see an original copy of this magnificent document was awe-inspiring to say the least.

  The museum also had quite a few artifacts that were interesting, including a copy of George Washington’s letter when he commissioned the Purple Heart, as well as an old Purple Heart, original medals of the New Hampshire chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati, and a letter by Kingston resident and first governor, founding father and second signer of the Declaration– Josiah Bartlett–  complaining that there was too much commotion on Sundays, the Lord’s day.

  This was a great event and we all had an unbelievable time. Seeing these historical writings in all their glory is impossible for me to describe. Anyone who lives in the New Hampshire area, is a history buff, and who has not been to the American Independence Museum owes it to themselves to check it out. I know that I intend to visit the museum again when it is not so busy so that I can get an even better look around.