History enthusiasts will have much to commemorate in October and November as the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) plans to look back at the Stamp Act protests that took place in the Wilmington area while also celebrating the group’s anniversary.
The Stamp Defiance Chapter of DAR, so named for the noteworthy local uprising against the British’s unpopular tax on Colonial America, will commemorate the organization’s 125-year anniversary of the Daughters of the American Revolution with a day of service that includes volunteer work and honoring local veterans.
For its community service efforts, the Stamp Defiance Chapter is working to donate more than 500 articles of clothing and supplies to the Carousel Center, a local nonprofit organization that provides a child-friendly environment for abused and neglected children. The local DAR chapter will also collect food for the Good Shepherd Homeless Shelter.
On Friday, Oct. 11, the Stamp Defiance Chapter will partner with the Battle of Rockfish Chapter, based out of Wallace, North Carolina, to honor local veterans at Moores Creek Battlefield, a U.S. National Park located near Currie, North Caroina. The site is where patriots in the Revolutionary War defeated British troops at Moores Creek Bridge. The victory ended British rule in Colonial North Carolina and provided morale for patriots across the colonies.
The event is to commemorate the birth of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which had its first official meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11, 1890.
In the coming months, the Stamp Defiance Chapter will look back at local history when it holds a series of events to recognize and remember the 250th anniversary of the noteworthy local protests to British rule.
The chapter plans to educate children on the history of the protests with an event Saturday, Oct. 17 at the New Hanover County main branch library on 201 Chestnut St. in downtown Wilmington.
At the “History Alive: 250th Anniversary of Stamp Act Defiance” event children will learn how Colonial Wilmington forced the British stamp master to resign his title at the courthouse in November 1765 after considerable local protests to the Stamp Act, a direct tax on the colonists by British King George III that was cited in the Declaration of Independence and helped set the stage for the American Revolution.
The program will include several activities to demonstrate and recreate Colonial life, including a presentation titled “Life in Wilmington in 1765” and two short plays, “The Stamp Act” and “Protests in Wilmington and Brunswick Town.” Children attending the event will make liberty headbands, engage in coloring activities, write with a quill pen, see demonstrations of fiber spinning to make yarn and at 3 p.m., parade around the block in a mock recreation of the protests.
The commemorations of the Stamp Act protests will continue Oct. 26 at the Cape Fear Museum in the Williston Auditorium with presentations from museum historian Jan Davidson and curator Barbara Rowe, who will describe Colonial life in Wilmington when the protests took place. The presentation will include a diorama of Colonial Wilmington that was constructed in 1939 and hasn’t been on display since 1970.
Finally, the Stamp Act Chapter will culminate its celebration of local Stamp Act protests in November with several events scheduled close to the Nov. 16, 1765, anniversary of the protests. They include a Nov. 12 lecture in University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Morton Hall from professor Chris Fonvielle called “The Stamp Act and Protests in Wilmington.” On Nov. 14, the chapter will reenact the resignation of stamp master William Houston in downtown Wilmington.
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