Meadow Farm Turns the Calendar to 1776 This Weekend

If you had lived along Mountain Road in 1776, which side would you have signed for? On Saturday, Henrico County is putting that question to visitors at Meadow Farm Museum at Crump Park. The event's own listing frames the afternoon around the choice: "Will you join those signing their names for independence, or remain faithful to the King?"

Henrico's 250th programming at Meadow Farm moves forward one year at a time. Each fall it picks up where Virginia stood 250 years earlier. Last November the question was whether to be a subject or a citizen. This November it's whether to sign. The cast the county has lined up for 1776 includes plenty of people who answered no, or who found freedom on the British side. That makes this weekend more interesting than a typical anniversary party.

Last fall it was 1775

On Nov. 8, 2025, Meadow Farm hosted "1775: Subject or Citizen?" It asked visitors to weigh loyalty to the Crown against independence through historical perspectives and period activities. This year's "1776: Signing Day" uses the same year-labeled format and runs the same 1 to 4 p.m. window, with the story moved forward twelve months.

Here is how the two casts compare.

Lord Dunmore is back for a second year. The British side has grown into two named regiments, and an Ethiopian Regiment soldier joins the portrayal of an enslaved Richmonder. Patrick Henry and Anne Harrison Randolph give way to George Wythe, Thomas Paine and Betsy Ross. The Patriot names changed, and the Crown's side got bigger.

Henrico was signing things long before 1776

"Signing Day" sounds like it's about one document. The county's own VA250 timeline shows Henrico residents putting their names to positions for almost a decade before independence.

• April 2, 1768: Henrico residents petitioned the House of Burgesses, arguing that the Townshend Act taxes infringed on the rights of free citizens.
• July 27, 1769: Anne Randolph of Wilton and Lucy Randolph of Chatsworth had their names printed in the Virginia Gazette as signers of nonimportation pacts.
• July 28, 1774: The Virginia Gazette published the Henrico Resolves, which supported Massachusetts after Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also called the Intolerable Acts.

That history links to Saturday's guest list. Wilton House Museum, connected to the Anne Randolph who signed in 1769, is one of the nine organizations with a table at Meadow Farm. The others are Richmond Battlefield Park of the National Park Service, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Preservation Virginia's Scotchtown, Henrico County Public Library, the Henrico Historical Society, the Hanover Museum of History & Culture, the Richmond American Revolution Roundtable, and St. John's Church. Many of the places that tell this region's Revolutionary story will be on one lawn for three hours, a short drive from Twin Hickory or Wyndham.

The Henrico teenager who found freedom with the British

The county doesn't stop at the people who signed. Its VA250 page tells the story of London Pleasants, a Henrico story that most residents have likely never heard.

In January 1781, Benedict Arnold crossed Henrico on his way to Richmond, trying to capture Governor Thomas Jefferson. His troops raided Robert Pleasants' Curles Neck Plantation. Among the enslaved people who left with them was London, a 14-year-old enslaved by Robert Pleasants. He freed himself by enlisting in Arnold's "American Legion," a battalion of American-born Loyalists, and served as a trumpeter through the end of the war. Records place him in New York City on Sept. 18, 1783, boarding the ship Elizabeth for St. John's, Newfoundland.

Henrico opened its Revolutionary War Week on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with "London Pleasants: From Enslaved to Redcoat," an evening program at Parsons Community Center. If you missed it, his story is also on a wall. The county commissioned muralist Jowarnise Caston to paint London Pleasants at Four Mile Creek Park, the busiest trailhead on the Capital Trail, on New Market Road in Varina. The mural is finished.

That's how to read Saturday's lineup. The Ethiopian Regiment soldier, the man portraying an enslaved Richmonder, Lord Dunmore, and the British Regulars aren't there as villains to make the Patriots look good. For many people in Henrico, 1776 was a choice with no safe answer, and the county has cast the afternoon that way.

What's left on the Mountain Road calendar

The week runs through Sunday, all at Meadow Farm Museum at Crump Park, 3400 Mountain Road. Here's what's still ahead:

1. Tonight, Thursday, Nov. 5, 6:30 to 8 p.m.: Revolutionary Team Trivia Night at Parsons Community Center. It's open to all ages, and teams register online through Henrico Recreation and Parks. The county's sample question asks whether you know the difference between Gilbert du Motier and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur.
2. Friday, Nov. 6, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Movie in the Park: Hamilton at Crump Park. Henrico lists it as free. Bring a blanket or chair, and picnics are welcome. The movie starts at 6:30.
3. Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 to 4 p.m.: 1776: Signing Day. Expect musket firing, music of the era by Marshall and Co., colonial games, crafts from 250 years ago, light refreshments, the reenactors and demonstrators listed above, and the nine partner organizations.
4. Sunday, Nov. 8, 2 to 3 p.m.: Hamiltrivia at Parsons Community Center. It's a new game that tests what you know about the musical against the real life of Alexander Hamilton, Maria Reynolds and Peggy Schuyler included.

Friday and Saturday also have a stop that only comes through once. The VA250 Mobile Museum, "Out of Many, One," is parked at Meadow Farm from Wednesday through Saturday. It's open 2 to 5 p.m. through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The museum is run by Virginia's American Revolution 250 Commission, which the General Assembly created. It's housed in an expandable 53-foot tractor-trailer, with interactive exhibits, high-tech displays and artifacts about Virginia and the nation's founding. On Friday, the 2 to 5 p.m. window lets you walk through it before the 6:30 movie. The commission says mobile museum locations, dates and times can change, so check its tour page before you head over.

Making a Saturday of it

The museum's regular hours line up with Signing Day. From March through November, Meadow Farm's buildings are open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. If you want to tour the farmhouse, arrive by 3 p.m. One plan is to come at noon for the farmhouse, then stay for the reenactors and musket firing when the event opens at 1.

The farmhouse covers a different stretch of history from the one on the lawn. Meadow Farm tells Native American, African American and Sheppard family histories, the Parsons family's history intertwined with the Sheppards, and the story of Gabriel's Rebellion. The grounds include the farmhouse, Parsons Community Center and an orientation center, plus a living-history animal collection of sheep, Jersey cows, Ossabaw Island hogs, chickens and a turkey. Younger kids who lose interest in the debate between Paine and Dunmore can head for the hogs.

Meadow Farm is also one of 70 historic sites in the statewide Virginia 250 Passport program. If your household has been collecting stops, details are at VirginiaHistory.org/250Passport. The Signing Day listing doesn't give an admission price, parking instructions or a rain plan. Questions about Saturday go to [email protected], and questions about the trivia nights and movie go to [email protected].

The county also says this won't end when the national celebrations wind down. On its VA250 Henrico page, Henrico writes that "while state and federal efforts may peak in 2026," it will keep offering ways to learn about the people and events of the past.

At Simpson Realty Group, we love that a 1776 debate is playing out this weekend at a county park on Mountain Road. If your Glen Allen home is one of the reasons you get to enjoy weekends like this, and you've wondered what it's worth today, Request Your Free Home Valuation and we'll put together a clear, local answer for you.