What to Do on the Fourth of July

Robert Livingston was a member of the New York Provincial Congress, and, in 1776, he was selected to attend the Continental Congress. He was part of the committee tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence but was recalled to New York before he could sign the document. What better place in the Hudson Valley to celebrate Independence Day than his home, Clermont?  

The Fourth of July observance at Clermont State Historic Site happens from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 4. Culinary historian Lavada Nahon will be present to teach 17th- to 19th-century cooking techniques, including those once used by enslaved people in the mid-Atlantic region. Other domestic arts demonstrations will include sewing and paper cutting. You can watch the British Army drill on the lawn of Clermont. You can listen to readings of the Declaration of Independence and Frederick Douglass's famous speech "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?" There will be crafts and activities for children, as well as tours of the exterior of the mansion. Fortunes Ice Cream will be selling their fresh seasonal handmade ice cream.

There will be no fireworks at the site this year, and the gates will close at sunset. The event admission fee is $10 a car. For more information, call Clermont State Historic Site at (518) 537-4240 or visit the website.