A Civil War encampment, a free concert and a pomp-filled parade capped the festivities as Liberty Weekend celebrations got underway at New Utrecht Reformed Church.
The two-day spectacle featured a program of dynamic spectacles and activities coordinated by the Friends of Historic New Utrecht; among them, a re-enactment at a Living History Civil War Encampment, tours of the church sanctuary and old cemetery, live music by the ISO Symphony Band and a tribute jaunt to the historic 106-foot Liberty Pole to celebrate its 225th anniversary.
Paraders marched along 18th Avenue to 16th Avenue, before returning to the famed flagstaff, raised in November 1783 on 18th Avenue, between 83rd and 84th streets following the British departure from the town of New Utrecht.
At the cemetery, which dates back to 1654, the group delivered a salute to war veterans and Revolutionary War General Nathanial Woodhull, who died of wounds nearby and is buried on Long Island.
Since 1908, the Liberty Pole has been under the care and preservation of the New Utrecht Liberty Pole Association.
When a new larger church was built in 1830 on the grounds behind the Liberty Pole, the bell from the old church, which had been cast in Holland in 1755, was recast with 359 guilders of silver. Its tone continues to be rich and full.
In 1789, President George Washington visited the town’s people and when he died – and upon the death of each American president thereafter – the church bell has tolled.
