Declaration of Independence Garden Party

Celebrates Boalsburg's Special Link with a Signer

Long known as the birthplace of Memorial Day and the home of the Columbus Chapel, historic Boalsburg on Saturday, July 5, 2008, will celebrate its special link with yet another major American holiday, Independence Day, with a garden party and special activities.

A portrait (on the right) and an original signature of Signer of the Declaration of Independence Richard Henry Lee are on display in the Boal Mansion Museum. Lee didn’t just sign the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. He actually offered the resolution in the Continental Congress in June 1776 that eventually became the Declaration of Independence.

Lee's original signature is on a book that belonged to him which is still in the Lee family belongings at the Boal Mansion, along with other original signatures from the Boal and Lee family involvement in American history, including the signatures of Presidents Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter and even the signatures of the first men on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. All of these signatures are on display in the library of the Boal Mansion.

Click here for another Lee portrait and the text of Lee’s Resolution.

At 1:30 PM, a free tour of the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum will be offered to all who apply. Later tours will be at the regular admission price.

Maryland Governor Blair Lee III, a descendant of Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, married Mathilde (Mimi) Boal, a seventh generation resident of the 1789 Boal Mansion. Their son Christopher, current CEO of the Boal Mansion, will read the Declaration of Independence in the garden after the free tour, along with other members of the community..

(Photo on right: Christopher Lee reads the Declaration of Independence at Boalsburg's American Bicentennial celebration in 1976.)

From 1:30 to 4 PM, a pot-luck reception and a patriotic sing-along, likely to include some Beatles songs as well, will be offered in the picturesque garden of the forty-acre Boal Estate. Here is the schedule:

• 1:30: Free Museum tour. Also, pot-luck reception. Those who want to partake, please bring a main dish, side dish or dessert. Drinks, cake and table service will be provided.

• 3:30: Reading of the Declaration of Independence followed by a sing-along of patriotic songs, Beatles tunes, etc., at the Steinway piano in the 1898 ballroom.

The forty-acre, mostly open-space grounds of the Boal Estate, the site of many community weddings and receptions, will be a picturesque sea of orange and green with thousands of day lilies in bloom.

For more information, contact the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210 or email office@boalmuseum.com.