Wearing his long red coat with black and white detailing, David Snyder loaded his weapon, aimed at his target and waited to hear the signal. Behind him, a crowd of people watched as he lined up his shot. Standing next to other redcoats, he fired his musket, the shot echoing through the wooded area. He’s used to this. He’s been an American Revolutionary War reenactor for over 50 years.
“As long as I'm physically capable of doing it, I will keep on doing it,” Snyder said.
Along North Carolina Highway 62 in Burlington, there’s a place where history was made. It’s the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site. This is where Snyder and other volunteers kicked off Alamance County’s celebrations to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
According to site manager Nathan Schultz, assistance from America 250 NC, a state initiative focused on commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, funded part of the event. Schultz said the Alamance Battleground Friends and the Alamance County Visitors Bureau also helped the site apply for other grants too, which allowed them to pay some of the participants. However, many came to the celebration March 7 simply because they enjoy sharing history.
The battleground is set to commemorate the Battle of Alamance, when an armed group of farmers called the Regulators battled with a British militia on May 16, 1771.
“Everybody else here as volunteers, came out of their own free will to help and throw this event today,” Schultz said.
Being a reenactor transports Snyder into a different world. He often portrays a private of the British Army’s 64th regiment. History, he said, is often told by the victors, so he chose to portray a member of the overall losing army of the Revolutionary War.
“It was a way of learning the history by actually getting into the skin of someone else who'd been there and portraying that,” Snyder said.
Gathered in red, white and blue, attendees took a step back in time, remembering the history of where they stood. The history is close to Christina Munter, whose family dates back to the 13 colonies. Munter is the regent, or leader, of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which had a table at the event. The DAR is a volunteer women's service organization focusing on historical preservation.
“It's fun to connect the history and the events that happened at that time and learn about the family connection,” Munter said.
The event allowed people to connect with history but also reflect on how the nation has changed since the 1700s.
“It gives us a good check mark. It's a reminder both of how far we've come,” Schultz said. “250 years, when they created independence, there was a lot of stuff left undone. And we have this moment now, 250 years later, to reflect on both what has been done to expand those fundamental ideas people have stretched and even to realize what is left to be done.”
For Snyder, the 250th wasn’t his first time living through a milestone year. He also participated in 200th and 225th anniversary events, still as a British soldier. He said he wasn’t sure if people would continue to be reenacting today.
“I was afraid that maybe with that last reenactment there at the end of the war, that this was all going to go away,” Snyder said. “I'm happy to say it has not. We've kept on doing it.”
The battleground also bridged generational gaps, passing along old memories to new visitors. Alamance County resident Molly Hubbard and her husband brought their two children to the battleground, a place she visited throughout her own childhood.
“I grew up here, so I've been here quite a bit, for field trips and things like that,” Hubbard said. “But I haven't been able to bring the kids out yet, and this has been pretty fun.”
Alamance is one of the 88 counties in North Carolina that formed committees for America 250 NC. This means the county will help lead events marking the anniversary, such as the one at Alamance Battleground State Historic Site.