Besides the picnics, parades and fireworks that typically happen on the Fourth of July, I had the opportunity to attend the program event put on by the Fillmore County Historical Society. It provided its viewers with a window into the past.
On July 5, at the site of the Fillmore County Museum located in Fountain, Minnesota, nearly 100 guests crowded the landscape to enjoy the Fourth of July program. It included stirring marches and patriotic songs presented by the award-winning Chatfield Brass Band; the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the museum’s executive director, Bretta Grabau; and a dramatic monolog by Jane Peck of History Alive in which she portrayed Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, during the tumultuous years leading up to the Declaration of Independence and beyond.
A highlight of the performance included the playing of our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” The spectators stood in reverence as the band played. The audience lifted its voice in singing along with the band. Their voices sang its lyrics with pride, gladness and gratefulness for our fine country.
A moving moment came as we considered the great commitment our founders actually made to set in motion the events that have led to our freedom.
At the culmination of the program, the new, digitally preserved Fillmore County plat map from 1878 was unveiled. The map displays landowners, roads, railroads, merchants and villages that rose up during the days when the state of Minnesota was only 20 years old. Two sets of my husband’s ancestors appear on it! The new map is permanently exhibited in the Fillmore County Museum for the public to see.
Guests perused the many artifacts at the museum such as the two-headed calf, the Pietenpol airplanes, the wood-burning truck, and of course, the 1878 plat map of Fillmore County. Visitors were welcomed in the little schoolhouse. Games and activities for children of all ages were scattered across the expanse of the museum lawn. Old-time games that entertained children of yesteryear, such as marbles, clothespin-in-the-bottle, catch-the-hoop and many others, painted for us a picture of the past.
All of this added another dimension to the holiday that so many of us look forward to each summer. The Fourth of July is an excellent time to look back at what has been done to grant us the freedoms we have and to appreciate the advantages left us by our ancestors.
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