On Monday, July 4, at 2 p.m., playwright Christine Emmert and Berk’s Opera Workshop Director Francine Black are slated to conduct a Reading of the Declaration of Independence with Poetry and Patriotic songs at the White Horse Tavern located at 31 Old Philadelphia Pike, Douglassville, PA 19518. To enjoy the free program, people are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or a blanket.
Visitors will also enjoy meeting Revolutionary War reenactors from the First Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line, see historic demonstrations by Berks Friends with Fibers, and tour the Mouns Jones Archaeology Project.
The Declaration of Independence was officially adopted in Philadelphia at 2 p.m. on July 4, 1776. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Berks County was on July 8, 1776. The document was read publicly in villages throughout the area. The reading at the White Horse, which served as a mustering place for Continental levies during the Revolutionary War, marks the hour of our nation’s 246th birthday.
Hosted by the Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County, the program is sponsored by Amity Township; the Friends of Hopewell Furnace; and the Society of Pennsylvania Archaeology, Chapter 21.
