Declaration Day

John Adams believed July 2 would be remembered as Independence Day. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration made July 4 the date that stuck. This year, South Carolina’s military museum celebrates both — on July 3.

Declaration Day is a free, family-friendly event featuring re-enactors and history enthusiasts in the museum’s Atrium from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can handle historical objects, make pomander balls, craft a flag and explore artifacts and displays tied to South Carolina’s role in the American Revolution.

At noon, award-winning history teacher Mike Burgess delivers a free public lecture — “We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident: The Declaration of Independence at 250” — as part of the museum’s Noon Debrief series. Burgess will explore the Declaration’s meaning not only to early Americans, but to peoples around the world who have looked to it for two and a half centuries as a model of self-governance and individual liberty.

Admission is free and open to the public. No registration required.