Planting trees, holding concerts and dances, fixing up decaying buildings, even putting on a show of antique gas and steam engines—in 1976 you could hitch the word Bicentennial onto most any activity and you were good to go.
Now, 50 years later, some of that excitement over celebration of the nation’s 200th anniversary can seem quaint, or even over the top. But still, it was a remarkable time in the Upper Valley when town after town formed committees, raised money and put together events and activities aimed at observing the Bicentennial, or the Bisentinel, as it often came out in colloquial speech.
Each community had its own distinctive celebration, some ambitious, others laid-back. But they were invariably simple expressions of community pride and cooperation undergirded by the spirit of patriotism, values that can be hard to locate in the atomized social media-saturated life of today.
Marking the founding of the nation was serious stuff, but it was also a time to enjoy entertainment and have fun. A dinner-dance in Claremont featuring Lester Lanin and His Orchestra sold out 500 tickets in a matter of hours; Hanover closed off Main Street for a rollicking block party; old-time fiddlers serenaded a lively crowd in Brownsville — all these were billed as Bicentennial celebrations.
People who were around the Upper Valley at that time are apt to fondly recall the schedules of events that were assembled, typically built around a parade. The Bicentennial Committee in Hartford opened a three-day July 4th weekend extravaganza with a “dawn dance” at the American Legion hall — actually a dance from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., followed by breakfast served at the VFW across the street.
Then the next day came a parade with close to 40 floats and on the Fourth an ecumenical service at the town monument, followed by an 11-mile marathon from Quechee to the Hartford High School athletic fields. An all-day “old fashion field day” brought such events as a tug of war, a box lunch auction, softball games and a greased pole climb. A barbecue and fireworks wrapped up the weekend activities.
In Norwich on July 4, the Paul Revere bell in the Congregational Church belfry was rung at 7:30 p.m. to alert people to gather at the town green for a “200th birthday party.” Stan Harrington led a chorus from the bandstand and honorary town mayor Allen Foley delivered a brief talk. Then 200 candles were distributed and lit, and the crowd shared a giant birthday cake.
Plainfield pulled together its first-ever July 4 parade, with a procession in Meriden from the KUA baseball diamond down Route 120 to the Plainfield School grounds for a field day. It started a tradition; each year since, the town has held its parade on the wide, flat Route 12-A in Plainfield Village. The Woodsville-Wells River parade is likewise a treasured holiday tradition, along with those in other towns.
Claremont’s celebration was by far the Upper Valley’s biggest, with a parade boasting 21 marching bands and 42 floats. The Nayaug Ancient Fife and Drum Corps of Glastonbury, Conn., led the column, and authorities estimated 40,000 spectators took in the show. Grafton had a far simpler affair, with a brief flag ceremony followed by a gathering at the Meeting House where people in period costumes served refreshments and examined historical items. Townspeople were invited to sign a Grafton scroll that was sent by wagon train from Concord to Valley Forge, Pa., along with similar documents collected from other New Hampshire towns.
Music was a mainstay of many of the region’s Bicentennial celebrations. An afternoon festival at the Enfield Community Lutheran Church included music of the colonial and revolutionary periods performed by a chorus, a quartet, a bass soloist, pianist, organist and a flutist. In Pomfret, an ensemble of singers from up and down the White River Valley sang patriotic songs, along with classics like “Climb Every Mountain” and “Shenandoah.” Singers from Bradford, Newbury and West Newbury rehearsed for a month leading up to a July 4 afternoon concert at the Old Goshen Church.
It was a time when many people enjoyed ballroom-style couples dancing; others went for square and contra-type, polka and other variations. Hartford Post 26 of the American Legion got an early start to Bicentennial dances with a ball featuring Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. Later on, the Meriden Volunteer Fire Department presented the storied Upper Valley dance band Woody and the Ramblers at an admission price of $2.50 per person with beer and mixed drinks available.
Schools all over the region dove into the Bicentennial subject headfirst. Perhaps most notable occurred in Bradford, where students mounted what was termed the largest Bicentennial school project in Vermont. With help from a UVM team, pupils in the elementary grades were immersed in activities such as building a small log cabin and cooking a meal over an open fire to learn “The Way It Was” 200 years ago.
Students at Hartford High School put together displays and demonstrations of intricate quilt making, clothing fashion over 200 years, maple sugaring, food preservation, wool spinning, furniture making, and homeopathic health remedies.
In some towns, the Bicentennial committees veered away from celebrations to community improvement projects. In Fairlee and Royalton, they undertook sprucing up aging railway stations. In Canaan, after setting up a schedule of events for the July 4 weekend, the committee focused on refurbishment of Williams Field, to include a skating rink and installation of basketball hoops. The work drew on a $1,000 grant from the New Hampshire American Revolution Bicentennial Commission that required the committee to raise a local match through donation. The committee also took on the task of cleaning weeds and debris from the Scofield Cemetery, resting place of some of the town’s founders.
Planting trees became a focus in some communities. In Norwich, William Ballard organized a May 1 Bicentennial Tree Day when residents would grab a shovel and plant a tree. Ballard, who was the town’s tree warden, was concerned about the many bare spots where trees had died from road salt, disease and old age. He figured the Bicentennial was as good a time as any to get new trees growing. He also undertook historical research showing that the town had undertaken a similar tree-planting effort for the Revolution centennial observance 100 years earlier.
In Lebanon, the Garden Club planted a “Liberty Tree” at the Maple Manor senior residence, and in Piermont, an Arbor Day ceremony marked the planting of three Bicentennial oaks at the Congregational Church, plus a blue spruce on the town square for Christmas. West Windsor planted a Bicentennial tree at Story Hall. Former Vermont U.S. Sen. George D. Aiken came to the Veterans Affairs hospital grounds in White River Junction to oversee planting of a Bicentennial maple tree on Veterans Day.
Bicentennial activities didn’t end after July 4. Events continued here and there as the celebration spirit stayed alive. In Thetford, an Aug. 14-15 lineup had athletic events, a beach party, exhibitions, barbecue, musical review, ecumenical service and an address by Gov. Deane C. Davis. A few days later, Norwich had a tour of historic private residences. A fall corn husking bee in Hartland included a square dance.
There was a great proliferation of Bicentennial dishes, quilts and flag-inspired kitsch; some still show up today in yard sales and flea markets. White River Junction postmaster Harold Wright put out a general alert about scam artists turning to the mails to lure people into bogus chain letters and phony government bond frauds, all using the nation’s Bicentennial as bait to draw in victims.
In the spirit of the Bicentennial year, Charles Marts of Meriden had a large 13-star American flag painted on the side of his True Road barn. It was frequently admired and photographed until a new property owner had it painted over a few years ago.
Vermont ‘s much-heralded “Spirit of Ethan Allen” steam train was to do round trips between Burlington and Bennington, but it was rolling up hefty losses and was scrapped the year before it was to be a Bicentennial headliner. Lebanon’s Municipal Airport drew thousands to a late September “Bicentennial Air Show” featuring aerobatic stunts, wing walkers and parachutists. The Lebanon Grange sponsored an early fall Bicentennial Gas and Steam Engine Show at Colburn Park in the downtown area.
A band of canoeists with the Bicentennial Canoe Trek from Huntington, Long Island, in N., showed up at Sumner Falls in Hartland where they were greeted by about 100 people and a pack of Indian raider reenactors. Peace was negotiated and the next morning the canoeists pushed off on their journey down the Connecticut and across Long Island Sound to the team’s home base.
The Valley News afforded the Upper Valley Bicentennial activities wall-to-wall coverage and in the fall it published a special edition summing up all the year’s happenings.
And an Enfield real estate broker listed a “Bicentennial House” for sale for $25,000. Seems parts of it appeared to have been built around the time of the Revolution.
Steve Taylor has contributed to the Valley News for many years. He lives in Meriden.
