On a balmy but sunny afternoon, the Marblehead Museum transformed the Lee Mansion’s garden into a Revolutionary-era time capsule on Saturday.
Over 100 people gathered there to commemorate the bicentennial of Marquis de Lafayette’s farewell tour visit to Marblehead on Aug. 31, 1824. The event, co-sponsored by Lafayette200, an initiative celebrating the French hero’s final American journey, brought the spirit of 1824 to life, complete with period costumes, speeches and musket fire.
Marblehead Museum Executive Director Lauren McCormack opened the proceedings, offering historical context. Lafayette visited Marblehead three times — in 1780, 1784 and 1824.
“When word first came to Marblehead in the spring of 1824 that Lafayette would return to the United States, the selectmen immediately sent out an invitation for him to visit,” McCormack said. “Lafayette disembarked from his coach at the house, what was known as the bank house at that time, at 9 a.m. He breakfasted [at the Lee Mansion] with the town’s preeminent citizens.”
McCormack shared to widespread laughs: “According to the reminiscences of the Russell family, the bank cashiers family, living in part of the mansion in 1824, Lafayette asked to take a nap after breakfast.”
Select Board Chair Erin Noonan delivered an abridged version of the speech that Marblehead Capt. John Prince, also a blacksmith, gave to Lafayette 200 years ago.
“You sir, on behalf of the inhabitants of Marblehead, I give you welcome to our town after an absence of 40 years since your first arrival in this country in the dark days of our Revolution,” Noonan recited.
State Rep. Jenny Armini, addressing Lafayette seated to her left, spoke to him about his enduring legacy.
“Streets are named after you. One here in Marblehead, schools, whole towns,” she noted. Armini referenced the musical “Hamilton,” reciting lyrics from the song “Guns and Ships” that celebrate Lafayette’s contributions to the Revolutionary War.
Armini emphasized the ongoing relevance of Lafayette’s legacy: “What remains remarkable and why this commemoration today is so important is that we as Marbleheaders get to celebrate the fact that the same virtuous spirit, the same animating industry, is still alive today in our community.”
Philadelphia resident and reenactor Ben Goldman, portraying Lafayette, arrived in period-appropriate clothing, and addressed the crowd.
“My obligations to the United States far exceed any merit that I might plausibly claim,” Goldman declared in character. “They date from a time when I had the good fortune to be adopted as a young soldier, a favored son of your country, and they have been continued to me over many decades of confidence and affection.”
Goldman’s Lafayette recounted his decision to join the American cause at age 17: “When I first heard this news, my heart was enlisted immediately, and I began to make plans to leave France.”
He spoke of his early days in America, his relationship with George Washington and his commitment to the ideals of liberty and equality.
Alan Hoffman, representing the American Friends of Lafayette and the Massachusetts Lafayette Society, spoke more about Lafayette’s connections to Marblehead.
During Lafayette’s farewell tour in 1824, Hoffman noted, “Even though he was only here for maybe an hour at most, Lafayette specifically requested to meet with the descendants of General John Glover. He was able to meet with Mrs. Hooper, John Glover’s surviving daughter.”
Lafayette had met John Glover on a previous visit, when his ship, en route to Boston, had to stop in Marblehead due to heavy fog.
“It’s clear that Lafayette and Glover were friends,” Hoffman stated.
The presentation concluded with a line of Glover’s Regiment reenactors firing a three-musket salute in honor of Lafayette, symbolizing the enduring legacy of the Marquis’ connection to Marblehead and its Revolutionary heroes.
