Let’s Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!
While no battles were fought on Dutchess soil, the county played a critical role in supplying munitions, strategic vantage points, training grounds, and soldiers to help the Continental Army.

Cozy up with a wee dram
Tenmile Distillery, 78 Sinpatch Rd., Wassaic
History buff Tom Bouldin, PhD, lectures on the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga, July 9, and the Burning of Kingston, August 13. The series focuses on battles featured on the labels of the distillery’s 12 commemorative whiskeys, part of a full 57-whiskey series, one released for every battle of the Revolution.
tenmiledistillery.com/upcoming-events

All Things Patriotic
July 25, 3–5 pm, Beekman Arms, Rhinebeck
Outside the historic inn, performances by the 5th New York Regiment reenactment group, storyteller Jonathan Kruk reads from the Declaration of Independence, and musicians play Revolutionary-era music.

George Washington Slept Here
July and August, Saturdays, 9 am–1 pm. The John Kane House, 126 E Main St., Pawling.
A new exhibit chronicles Washington’s headquarters here from 1778. An augmented reality activity for young visitors features a storytelling cricket named Sergeant Chirp Dispatch.

I’ll Drink to That
The “Commander in Cheers” program features tasting rooms, pubs, taverns, and restaurants throughout the county with special coasters printed with a QR code. Scan it and a miniature George Washington pops up to tell a Revolutionary story.
destinationdutchess.com/cic-beers

Story Finder Discovery Trail
A mobile passport features 25 ways to celebrate the nation’s birth. Check in at 25 locations and be entered to win a Rev250 Prize Package: a white-glove tour for two at Mount Gulian Historic Site in Beacon and a $75 gift certificate to the Tavern at the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck.
destinationdutchess.com/story-finder

Colonial Trades Day
August 8, 10 am–4 pm, East Fishkill Historical Society, Hopewell Junction.
Demonstrations by skilled colonial craftspeople include blacksmithing, woodcarving, gunsmithing, spinning and wool dyeing, broom-making, candlemaking, stone masonry, hat-making, open-hearth cooking, baking in the beehive bake oven, and iron smelting.

Quaker Meeting House Tours
July 12, 1–4 pm, sites in Clinton, Millbrook, Pawling, Stanford, and Hyde Park.
At Clinton Corners, visit the Creek Meeting House, built during the Revolutionary War, whichstands as a testament to the Quakers’ steadfast principles of nonviolence and neutrality during one of America’s most turbulent periods.
meetinghousetour.com

Stop and Smell the Roses
Historic garden tour at Mount Gulian Historic Site, Beacon, August 1 and 2, 11 am and 1 pm.
From 1782–1783, patriot general Friedrich von Steuben was headquartered at Mount Gulian, right across the Hudson River from Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh. The first veterans organization, the Society of the Cincinnati, was founded here.

Amenia’s Spycatcher
August 21 and 22 at 8 pm, and Sunday, August 23, at 2 pm, Town Hall Theater, Amenia.
A new play by Amenia resident George Bistransin weaves historical facts from many different sources into a fictional drama based on local Revolutionary residents.

Freedom Day!
July 5, 11 am–2 pm, Freedom Park, LaGrange.
Cooking demonstrations with buckwheat and rye, flax and wool spinning, blacksmithing, Fife and Drum Corps, colonial crafts — plus George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Baron von Steuben will be there!