The dedication ceremony will begin with the first speaker at 1:30 p.m. and end with a 2:33 p.m. flyover by the West Coast Ravens that perform at air shows.
"There's quotes all throughout this exhibition ... but one of my favorites is from Charles Higgins. It basically says, 'The Declaration [of Independence] was signed in ink in Philadelphia, but it was signed and sealed in blood in Brooklyn.'"
The man who would come to be called Harry Washington was born near the Gambia River, in West Africa, around 1740. As a young man, he was sold into slavery and endured the horrors of the Middle Passage. In Virginia, he was purchased by a neighbor of George Washington, who then bought the young man in 1763 for 40 pounds. After working to drain the colony's Great Dismal Swamp-one of George Washington's many land ventures-he was sent to Mount Vernon to care for the horses.
Originally constructed as a home by a merchant named Casparus Mabie, '76 House was later operated as a tavern. One of the country's oldest operating restaurants, it functioned as a key social and political hub that drew locals and soldiers alike during the Revolutionary War. Plenty of history has been made in the restaurant in the past two and a half centuries.
The Battle of Brooklyn began just before midnight on August 26th, 1776. With a total of 50,000 soldiers, the Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island) was the first major battle during the Revolutionary War, and the largest until Yorktown in 1781, when the British surrendered. During this first battle of the war, the Americans, underprepared and outnumbered, suffered significant casualties, losing around 1,000 out of a total force of 18,000.
The iconic dwelling, known as the Ebenezer Hancock House, is available for purchase for the first time in more than 50 years and was meticulously maintained for decades.
The public can come and contemplate the mysteries around this ship, because like anything from the past, we have pieces of information. We don't have the whole story.
