The festivities will begin on July 13th at 2:00 pm with a procession from the historic 1710 Tavern, the oldest active tavern in Virginia.  The local chapter of the Sons of Liberty often held meetings at the tavern, and George Washington himself is said to have stopped in from time to time, so it seemed like the perfect place to start our commemoration.  Members of the Williamsburg Fife & Drum Corps will be on hand, and the Rappahannock Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution will be providing a color guard and musket salute.  The commemoration will also feature a colonial dance troupe, the debut of a new museum exhibit, a live show inspired by the 1766 Tappahannock Stamp Act protests performed by the McKey Carpenter Stunt Group, and a modern, Hamilton-inspired performance of the Essex Resolutions!

The 250th Anniversary Commemoration of the Essex Resolutions will take place from 2:00pm to 5:30pm on July 13th in the Max Silver Memorial Courtyard, which is located at 139 Prince Street in Tappahannock, just behind the Museum.  The event is free to the public, and beer, wine, and refreshments will be available for purchase.  The project is supported, in part, by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission (VA250).  

ABOUT OUR MUSEUM

Essex and its county seat, Tappahannock, lie on the beautiful Rappahannock River in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. The Essex County Museum, founded in 1996, and the Essex County Historical Society joined forces in 2006 to celebrate the heritage of the town, county, river, and its people and is now the Essex County Museum and Historical Society (ECMHS).

The museum houses a number of exhibits that include pre-historic through modern displays of life in Essex and on the Rappahannock River. In addition to these collections, the museum has a research room with a small library as well as a Gift Shop with handcrafted jewelry, home accessories, art, books, children’s toys and games, and more!   All proceeds from the shop benefit ECMHS’s programs and operations.

Outreach is an important component of the museum’s mission and ECMHS collaborates with other museums on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula to bring a “History on the Go” program to local elementary schools. The Essex County Museum also has a variety of other educational programs that are offered either at the museum or in another venue as well as live and virtual programs throughout the year that are offered to the community.