Morgan County’s Bicentennial celebrates Morgan County Day in Berkeley Springs State Park on Monday, July 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.
m. Beginning at noon is an hour of ceremonial speeches by state and local political figures from the park gazebo. Following the speeches, assembled public guests are invited to be part of a Bicentennial group photo. All activities are to be live streamed and filmed for archival purposes.
Special features include food trucks so people can picnic in the park. On display for the first time at the gazebo during the ceremony is the Bicentennial Quilt created by 19 members of the Delectable Mountain Quilt Guild. There are 34 squares depicting key attractions of the county including Panorama Overlook, George Washington’s Bathtub, the County Courthouse, Paw Paw and Great Cacapon.
Both the swimming pool and the Museum of the Berkeley Springs are open in the park on Monday.
“During the 1880s and 90s, there were massive 4th of July celebrations in Berkeley Springs,” said Bicentennial co-chair Jeanne Mozier. “They included everything from a tournament with knights on horseback to a parade and ox roast. We’ll be having the patriotic speeches, food trucks and Friday night fireworks.”
Since the birthdate of the county’s namesake, Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan is unknown, the Bicentennial selected the date of his death to celebrate as Morgan County Day. “By the time he died, he was famous so that date was known,” said Mozier.
The live stream of the event can be viewed on the Museum of the Berkeley Springs and Morgan County WV Bicentennial 2020 Facebook pages as well as morgancountywv.gov. Future Bicentennial events include continued lectures on county history.
