Williamsburg will host representatives from across the country to plan for America’s 250th anniversary

Nearly 300 representatives from 34 states will visit Williamsburg this weekend to start planning for the United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026.

Starting Friday, Colonial Williamsburg and the VA250 Commission will host a series of discussions to begin collaborating on 250th anniversary events across the country. The weekend will also include a public event on Sunday recognizing the establishment of the intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, drafted in Williamsburg on March 12, 1773.

In 1773, Virginia lawmakers including Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry resolved to create intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, which would provide a “vital network of communication among the colonies that would prove critical for the Revolutionary movement.” The committees were the first act uniting the colonies. The resolution was drafted at Raleigh Tavern in what is now Colonial Williamsburg’s historic area.

“It seems appropriate that the first national event marking the 250th anniversary of our founding will take place in Williamsburg, given the role the city and Virginia played in creating a intercolonial movement in 1773,” Carly Fiorina, board chair of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, said in the release. “We are honored to convene hundreds of state representatives to initiate discussions of events planned for communities around the country. As importantly, we will weave these events into a national conversation about our country’s founding and the significance of that moment, today, for the nation and the world.”

Key speakers at the three-day event include Fiorina, Bill Whitaker from “60 Minutes,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, along with numerous historians.

The weekend’s events begin Friday with a reception to welcome visitors to Virginia and to Colonial Williamsburg, followed by several talks and panels on Saturday as well as guided walking tours throughout the Historic Triangle. A States Dinner is being held at the Governor’s Palace Saturday evening.

The public is invited to the commemoration of the formation of Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence at 1:45 p.m. Sunday. The event will feature a Fifes & Drums procession from the Courthouse on Duke of Gloucester Street to Raleigh Tavern.

Sian Wilkerson, 757-342-6616, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com