MIDDLESEX––The Friends of Urbanna will present Founders Day 2025 on Saturday, Aug. 2.
This free, day-long event will feature a June 1775 living history event to be offered in Urbanna Baptist Church, 121 Watling Street, at 11 a.m. Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, portraying Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe, will engage in a lively discussion about the actions of the Second Continental Congress, which convened in May 1775.
Other activities all over town include a fife and drum march through town preceding the 11 a.m. performance and an encampment of the “HMS Otter” and crew, behind Urbanna’s 1766 Scottish Factor Store, with interpretive sailors demonstrating the beginnings of the Virginia Navy. Docents and historians will guide visitors through the Mitchell Map, declared by the Library of Congress to be one of the most important maps in the country’s history. Seagoing vessels will include the recreated 17th and 18th century ships, the “Explorer” and “Luna,” and an encampment and interpretation by Anas Todkill, who traveled with 17th century Chesapeake Bay explorer John Smith.
Urbanna’s historic home, Lansdowne, 271 Virginia Street, will be open for tours. Lansdowne was the home of diplomat Arthur Lee (1791-1792), who is buried on the property in the family cemetery. Lee helped to negotiate and signed the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, which allied France and the United States together during the American Revolutionary War.
Urbanna’s 18th century colonial courthouse at 201 Virginia Street will also be open for tours.
For information, call 758-2613.
