Gen. Lafayette came through Tolland 200 year ago on September 4, 1824. To commemorate this special event and to kick off the beginning of Tolland’s AMERICA 250 celebration events to follow, we will be entertaining the General as we recreate his historic journey through Tolland, Connecticut and America 200 years ago on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 6, 7 and 8.
A Tribute to a ‘French Founding Father’
200 years after the Marquis de Lafayette visited New York as part of a nationwide tour, a re-enactor will retrace his steps.
Two hundred years ago this weekend, when the Marquis de Lafayette visited New York — the first stop on a tour that would take him all over the still-young nation — his three-masted packet ship docked first on Staten Island. Lafayette then sailed on to Manhattan the next morning.
Today the organizers of the 200th-anniversary recreation of Lafayette’s trip plan to party like it’s 1824, with costumes and ceremonies commemorating his 6,000-mile tour across 24 states. Even though Lafayette was an old soldier by then — he was 66 when he arrived in New York — his fame had not faded away. He was still revered for fighting in his 20s with George Washington and for helping to force Lord Charles Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown.
You’re in luck! Tolland will be joining the likes of NYC, Old Sturbridge Village, the Old State House in Hartford, and other venues, as we celebrate the 200th anniversary visit of this patriot who fought alongside General Washington to secure our freedom.
This tour will kick off Tolland’s America 250 Celebrations culminating in 2026. Join us.
