This is part of a series on Lafayette’s visit to Massachusetts August 23, 1824 to September 3 1824.
Militia On Muster Day at Old Sturbridge Village 2023
Lafayette’s last stop in Worcester County, and Massachusetts for that matter, was in Sturbridge. There was triumphal arch erected over the road where it entered the common. Two rows of shrubbery was extended to the public house. Artillery and a band were stationed on the meeting-house hill. More than three thousand people from Sturbridge and the neighboring region assembled.
The veterans assembled separately in military style and Lafayette spoke to them individually. Most of them had seen him during the war and many had served under him.
Sturbridge celebrated its bicentennial in 1938 with an elaborate pageant. Lafayette and the Coming of Industry was one of the scenes portrayed.
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For information on the bicentennial of Lafayette’s tour check out lafayette200.org.
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