Twenty-eight months and counting until the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and the Arlington committee tasked with coordinating local efforts is beginning to ramp up its work.
A March 12 meeting of the the body, led by the Arlington Historical Society, will begin getting into the nitty-gritty phase of committee work, grant-seeking and outreach. So said Annette Benbow, who is leading the effort.
A planning meeting held last November drew a standing-room-only crowd, said the Arlington Historical Society. That body has been tasked by the county government in taking the lead in local celebrations of what, somewhat unwieldily, is being called the nation’s “semiquincentennial” – equating to “half of 500 years.”
What today is known as Arlington County was in 1776 a collection of small farms and a few larger plantations, with Georgetown and Alexandria the largest nearby localities.
For information on the effort, e-mail ArlingtonVA250@gmail.com or see the Website at www.arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org.
