By Nicole Layton

EDENTON — Before the first words of the Declaration of Independence echoed across the Chowan County Courthouse Green on Saturday morning, patriotism was already on full display.

Organizers estimated about 950 people packed the historic square, spilling beyond rows of folding chairs into the shaded porches and front yards surrounding the green. Some arrived dressed as Revolutionary-era colonists. Others wore stars-and-stripes shirts, patriotic hats and red, white and blue from head to toe. One group draped American flags across their shoulders like capes. A spectator sipped coffee from a mug that read simply: “Party like it’s 1776.”

It was a scene that could only happen in Edenton.

A community gathers to remember

On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, residents and visitors gathered beneath towering oaks and in the shadow of the 1767 Chowan County Courthouse to celebrate the nation’s founding in one of the places where its story was written. Behind the podium stood the monument to Joseph Hewes, one of North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nearby were the streets, churches and homes that have witnessed generations of American history.

For 27 years, the Edenton Tea Party Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has invited the community to return to those beginnings through its annual public reading of the Declaration. This year’s ceremony carried added significance as communities across the country marked the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Among those watching the crowd fill the Courthouse Green was Beth Taylor, who has helped organize the ceremony for 27 years. This year’s event, she announced, would be the last she would preside over.

A declaration for every generation

Even the July heat failed to diminish the moment. Several speakers remained dressed in full suits throughout the morning, while Edenton resident Jonathan Tobias, clad in colonial attire, seemed to blur the line between past and present.

Speakers reminded the crowd that the Declaration of Independence is more than a document preserved behind museum glass. It remains a challenge for every generation.

That idea was at the heart of Tobias’ remarks.

Standing before a crowd gathered in one of America’s oldest colonial towns, he posed a simple question.

“Why are you here?”

Perhaps, he suggested, it was family tradition. Perhaps it was a love for Edenton’s remarkable history. Or perhaps it was the recognition that freedom is never automatic.

“The Declaration of Independence should not only be preserved behind glass,” Tobias said. “It should be spoken aloud in public by living voices to living people.”

He described the Declaration not as a relic of 1776 but as a living standard that continues to challenge Americans.

“It says that governments are not divine. It says rulers are accountable,” Tobias said. “It says that human beings possess rights that no king, no parliament, no president, no party, no mob and no majority may rightly take away.”

Acknowledging that America has not always lived up to its founding ideals, Tobias argued that the Declaration’s enduring power lies in giving each generation a measure against which to judge itself.

“Freedom is not inherited like an old antique chair,” he said. “It must be received, repaired, practiced, defended and handed on down.”

Later in his address, Tobias offered another reflection that resonated with the crowd.

“A republic needs brave and civil citizens,” he said. “It needs people who can argue without hatred, disagree without violence, remember without pretending and love their country enough to tell the truth about it.”

He concluded with a reminder that patriotism is measured not by politics, but by a commitment to one another.

“Patriotism is not partisanship,” Tobias said. “Patriotism is love of the common good.”

That theme of duty and sacrifice continued throughout the ceremony.

Service to community

Chowan County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Kirby challenged residents to honor the nation’s founders by serving their own community.

The sacrifices made by those who have come before us should never be taken for granted,” Kirby said, noting that the signers’ pledge of “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor” still carries meaning 250 years later.

For Kirby, honoring that sacrifice begins close to home.

“Our community will only thrive and prosper if we collectively commit ourselves to service to Chowan County and the Town of Edenton,” he said.

Rather than focusing on grand gestures, Kirby encouraged residents to find small but meaningful ways to serve—whether mentoring students, coaching youth sports, helping at the food pantry, delivering Meals on Wheels or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

Borrowing from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Kirby concluded, “Ask not what your county can do for you; ask what you can do for your county.”

Mayor Hack High reminded the audience that few communities are as closely connected to the nation’s founding as Edenton.

Standing within sight of Joseph Hewes’ monument, High reflected on the sacrifices made not only by Hewes but also by Penelope Barker and the women of the Edenton Tea Party.

As the Declaration was about to be read, High encouraged those gathered to listen carefully—not simply for familiar words, but for the risks behind them.

“Think about the significant risk that our forefathers and our foremothers went to—to their life, their liberty, their family, their jobs, their finances,” High said.

Then he challenged listeners with a deeply personal question.

“When was the last time you subjected your life, liberty and happiness to your country or to a cause that you firmly believe in?”

High said his hope for America’s 250th birthday is that it leaves people with “a newfound, long-lasting, deeply committed gratitude.”

Letting Joseph Hewes speak

One of the morning’s most compelling presentations came from Robert Leath, executive director of the Edenton Historical Commission, who departed from the traditional biography of Joseph Hewes by allowing the Founding Father to speak largely through his own words.

Drawing from Hewes’ surviving correspondence, Leath painted a portrait of a man whose convictions evolved alongside the Revolution.

Born into the Quaker faith, Hewes came from a tradition known for pacifism. Yet, as revolutionary sentiment spread through the colonies, he wrote that “all the Quakers, except a few of the old rigid ones have taken up arms.”

His letters also revealed the urgency he felt as North Carolina debated whether to fully support the cause of independence.

“I tremble for North Carolina,” Hewes wrote. “Every county ought to have at least one company… I would rather perish ten thousand times than they should give up this matter in this time of trial.”

Leath followed Hewes through his service in the Continental Congress, where he presented North Carolina’s Halifax Resolves, helped lay the foundation for what would become the United States Navy and ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence.

The personal cost of that service was evident in another of Hewes’ letters.

“I had the weight of North Carolina on my shoulders,” he wrote after months of grueling work in Philadelphia. “The service was too severe.”

The ceremony reached its centerpiece as Bob Steinburg, an Edenton resident and former state senator, stepped to the podium and read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. For several minutes, the crowd listened quietly as words first proclaimed 250 years ago again filled the Courthouse Green.

Passing the torch

As Steinburg finished reading the words that changed history, applause once again echoed across the green. For Beth Taylor, it marked the final time she would watch the ceremony conclude not simply as a spectator, but as one of the volunteers who had spent months helping bring it to life.

For 27 years, Taylor has been far more than the familiar voice behind the microphone. As co-chair of the organizing committee and master of ceremonies, she has worked behind the scenes long before each Independence Day arrived, coordinating participants, recruiting volunteers and ensuring the annual celebration honored both history and community.

During the ceremony, Taylor reflected on the vision of the late Virginia Wood, whose idea became what is now one of North Carolina’s premier Independence Day observances. She also thanked the volunteers and community partners—including American Legion Post 40, whose members have presented the colors every year since the event began—who helped build the tradition alongside her.

Earlier this year, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution recognized Edenton’s Independence Day celebration as the nation’s top state-level Independence Day event for the fourth consecutive year. Taylor also announced that organizers have been invited to present a national online program later this month to share how the community has built its nationally recognized celebration.

Next July 4, Taylor will likely be back on the Courthouse Green. But for the first time in nearly three decades, she will experience the ceremony not as one of the people responsible for bringing it together, but as someone able to simply join the crowd in celebrating it.

As the audience dispersed toward Edenton Bay for the community’s “Waves Across America” gathering and a full day of Independence Day festivities, one message lingered.

The Declaration of Independence may be 250 years old, but in Edenton, it is still read aloud, still debated, still celebrated and, as Tobias reminded those gathered, still entrusted to every generation willing to carry it forward.

The Albemarle Observer will have additional coverage of Edenton’s July 4 celebrations, including waterfront activities and other community events held throughout the day, in an upcoming story.