Local America250 committee ramps up festivities with Revolutionary War Encampment

There are only 10 months until the United States of America turns 250 years old, and in Burke County, the local America250 committee is building momentum with a series of signs and events leading up to the big day.

Banners for America250 Burke County began appearing in March, spreading around the Historic Burke County Courthouse Square as a quiet step toward the nation’s semiquincentennial birthday.

The quiet beginnings gave way to revelry on July 4, when Burke County’s America250 NC committee celebrated the United States’ 249th birthday and, at the same time, started the year-long countdown to the big day in 2026.

The next milestone in the countdown is Burke County’s annual Revolutionary War Encampment in September.

Chairman of Burke County’s America250 NC committee Ed Phillips said the 15-person committee worked to finalize details for the event at Monday’s committee meeting, and introduced a draft design for a commemorative Independence Day 2026 T-shirt.

The Revolutionary War Encampment will have more than 25 vendors this year, Phillips said. Vendors will demonstrate 18th-century methods for spinning wool, making black powder, and other crafts.

They may even fire a cannon this year, Phillips said.

“One of the things we’re looking at is how important freedom is. So, for the last 250 years, what does freedom mean to Americans in Burke County?” Phillips said.

Phillips said discussions on freedom will also tackle the emancipation of enslaved Americans.

Sonny Kelly, a Fayetteville actor, will portray an enslaved man at the Revolutionary War Encampment, Phillips said.

“He’ll be dressed as an enslaved Black man in the 1700s, and talk about, in first person I believe, what it was like to be a slave, which is very emotional,” Phillips said.

The Revolutionary War Encampment will take place on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Captain Charles McDowell House on 119 St. Mary’s Church Road in Morganton. It will start at 11 a.m.

Phillips said there will also be a historic sites tour on Friday, Sept. 26, featuring four sites that are not normally open to the public. The sites are Gilboa Methodist Church, Quaker Meadows Cemetery, Swan Ponds, and the Southern Railway Depot.

Only 40 tickets are available for the tour. Tickets can be purchased now online by searching “Burke County Historic Sites Tour” on eventbrite.com. Tickets are $33.85 each.

America250 is a national initiative to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The America250 website said: “The journey toward this historic milestone is an opportunity to pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create for the next generation and beyond.”