On Monday, September 2, 2024 (Labor Day), Lafayette reenactor Benjamin J. Goldman will come to First Parish in Concord, commemorating the day and site where the town gave the French general a hero’s welcome two hundred years ago. Though the First Parish Meeting House was different in 1824, the adjacent Wright Tavern, built in 1747, is largely the same. When Lafayette arrived, it was no longer a tavern but a bakery. Francis Jarvis’ bakery operated out of the Wright Tavern and supplied fresh bread for Lafayette’s banquet on the lawn. This year, the Wright Tavern opened its doors as a gathering space. American Friends of Lafayette, a national organization leading this 24-state reenactment, asked the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust to provide a local program to commemorate Lafayette’s stop in Concord. 

The public is warmly invited to assemble on the lawn of First Parish to watch a reenactment of Lafayette’s visit to Concord at 3:00 this Labor Day. The celebration is family-friendly and free of charge. Escorted by the Concord Militia playing fife and drum, “the general” will begin his journey at the Concord Museum’s parking lot and proceed to the lawn of First Parish via Lexington Road. Upon his arrival, the Old Concord Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution will greet him with a wreath-laying ceremony. Vermont Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar, a descendant of the antislavery politician and attorney Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) who presided over the 1824 ceremony, will reenact his namesake’s speech. Tom Wilson, Chair of the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust, will read from the letter that President James Monroe wrote to Lafayette initiating the Farewell Tour.  

1824 silver medal with Lafayette on one side (shown) and Washington on the other, commissioned to celebrate Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America. 14.5 mm. Struck from dies by Joseph Lewis. 

| Courtesy of private collection.

The reenactment is just the beginning of the commemoration. Guests will move indoors to the First Parish sanctuary where a seated program, recorded and livestreamed on Zoom, will focus on Lafayette’s antislavery and human rights advocacy. Historian Robert Gross will draw from his 2021 book Transcendentalists and their World to provide insight on Lafayette’s 1824 trip to Concord. Jen Turner, Executive Director of the Robbins House, will speak on Lafayette’s transformation into an abolitionist. Sam Williams, Executive Director of Concord Prison Outreach, will honor Lafayette’s humanitarianism by reading an original poem addressing our contemporary times. Williams will invite audience members to write their own reflection on today’s issues and insert it into a time capsule to be opened one year later at the Wright Tavern. Anderson Manuel, Gospel Choir Director at First Parish, will lead guests in inspirational songs. A reception will follow at the Wright Tavern, featuring French cuisine, in honor of Lafayette’s commitment to liberty and equality and the indelible bond of friendship between the American and French people. 

Following his military service in America, Lafayette lobbied friends and fellow soldiers to live up to the American ideals they fought for. He dedicated himself to ending slavery. In a letter addressed to his daughters and granddaughters, Lafayette wrote: “there is only one point to which I decidedly cannot resign myself: that is, slavery and the anti-Black prejudices.” (April 15, 1825) Historians credit Lafayette’s repeated urgings as the reason why Washington emancipated the enslaved people on his plantation in his will. Upon returning to France, Lafayette became a central figure in the fight for a constitutional order; but during the Reign of Terror, he had to flee the country to avoid arrest. Austrian authorities intercepted and jailed Lafayette for five years. Imprisonment did not embitter Lafayette but rather, broadened his sense of empathy to include the incarcerated.

Come join us for this unique townwide celebration of Lafayette’s legacy! 

*This article made possible through the support of the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust