Celebrate 250 years of America in Virginia.
From the first English settlement at Jamestown to the surrender of the British at Yorktown. From “Give me liberty or death” to “all men are created equal.” From Washington and Jefferson to Madison and Monroe. From Powhatan and Pocahontas to James Armistead Lafayette and Gowan Pamphlet. From the ideas that inspired it to the battlefields that decided it. There is simply no America without it, and no better time than now to reconnect with your country in the place that made it possible.
The Semiquincentennial is not simply about our past; it reflects how our founding continues to shape our present and future. Our founders knew there was more work required 250 years ago, and work remains to be done. This is why the VA250 Commission has chosen “To Form a More Perfect Union” as its theme.
The overarching goals of VA250 are:
- to educate Americans, including our students, about our history, our founding ideals, and our system of government;
- to engage with every community and every Virginia locality in events that tell a complete story; and
- to inspire us all to commit to the values inherent in American citizenship.
Thank you to our Community Partners
America 250
Daughters of the American Revolution
Discover Stafford
Fredericksburg Area Museum
Freedom Forge Foundation
George Washington Foundation
Gunston Hall
James Monroe Museum
National Museum of the Marine Corps
National Park Service
Patawomeck Indian Tribe
Stafford County Historical Society
Tour Stafford
University of Mary Washington
VA250
Virginia Museum of History and Culture
Washington Heritage Museums
Widewater State Park
VA250 Programs at the library
18th Century Hand Sewing, part of a series
Lunch & Learn: William Washington
VA250 Book Group: "The Fate of the Day," by Rick Atkinson
Cooking Corner: Make Colonial-Era Gingerbread
18th Century Hand Sewing, part of a series
Lunch & Learn: William Washington
VA250 Book Group: "The Fate of the Day," by Rick Atkinson
Cooking Corner: Make Colonial-Era Gingerbread
Traveling Exhibits
Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and The Virginians
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning Broadway production Hamilton, opens a new window propelled our nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury into a legendary status not held since his untimely death in 1804. Miranda’s narrative—based on the work, opens a new window of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ron Chernow—tells the story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America.
Visit the library to explore Alexander Hamilton’s relationships with the founding fathers and experience the critical role that Virginia and Virginians played in shaping the life of the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury.
Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and the Virginians is organized by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and presented by TowneBank with support from the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia. Sponsored by Central Rappahannock Regional Library and Tour Stafford, opens a new window.
Exhibit Dates
Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865
Explore the lives of free Black Virginians from the arrival of the first captive Africans in 1619 to the abolition of slavery in 1865. Through powerful objects and first-person accounts, discover how Virginia’s people of color achieved their freedom and persevered within a legal system that recognized them as free but not equal. Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865 is organized by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
Genealogy Workshops
Genealogy Workshops
Learning with the Library
Colonial America
Book Corner: Revolutionary reads to commemorate Virginia 250
Movies for the 4th of July
VA250: Virginia's Voices for Liberty
Colonial America
Book Corner: Revolutionary reads to commemorate Virginia 250
Movies for the 4th of July
VA250: Virginia's Voices for Liberty
Expand each section to learn more.
Common Sense was a 47-page pamphlet authored by Thomas Paine, a recent English immigrant. In electric prose, Paine made a forceful case in defense of separation. On multiple scores, the pamphlet radiated a radical democratic spirit. In plain, unadorned writing, it appealed to the common capacities of all people to evaluate the case for independence. Common Sense seized public opinion, propelling American colonists toward independence.
See more about the pamphlet here.
Expand each section to learn more.
A Transcription
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
See the full transcript from the National Archives.
December 26, 1776: A Turning Point - The Battle of Trenton
After crossing the Delaware River in a treacherous storm, General George Washington’s army defeated a garrison of Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. The victory set the stage for another success at Princeton a week later and boosted the morale of the American troops. Only 5 Americans were wounded in the Battle of Trenton; no casualties. The Americans also managed to capture critical supplies, including food and clothing, in the process.
From the American Battlefield Trust
