Why is Fort Delaware closing this weekend? That’s because all the reenactors will be celebrating Patriots Weekend at the Minisink Battleground Park in Barryville, NY and they hope you will join them there!

There is a full slate of events scheduled to take place at the Battleground all weekend. On Friday, July 17, things get underway at 3 p.m., with a number of historical exhibits and demonstrations. Then at 4 p.m., re-enactor Noah Lewis, who has appeared at Fort Delaware in the past, returns to the area from Upper Darby, PA to present his program on Ned Hector, an African American Revolutionary War hero. The presentation will take place in the Benjamin Tusten Memorial Pavilion at the Battleground. The encampments will be accepting visitors Friday until 6 p.m.

On Saturday, July 18, the action is non-stop, as Noah Lewis presents “African Americans in the American Revolution” at 11 a.m. in the Tusten Pavilion to get things started. 

Then, the annual reading aloud of the Declaration of Independence and a Loyalist Response will take place at 1 p.m., followed by a skirmish between Patriots and Loyalists. The Fort Delaware Fife & Drum Corps performs at 2:30, followed by colonial musician Linda Russell, longtime balladeer at Federal Hall in New York City, who will perform at 3 p.m. The annual commemoration of the Battle of Minisink follows at 4. New York State Historian Devin Lander will deliver the keynote address.

All of those events take place at the Hilltop Clearing at the Battleground.

Guided walking tours of the Battleground will be available after the commemoration, and at different times throughout the weekend for anyone who is interested. The encampments will again be open to visitors on Saturday until 6 p.m.

On Sunday morning, the 5th New York Regiment re-enactors will present drills and demonstrations beginning at 11 a.m., after which the activities switch to Eldred, where the Town of Highland is hosting an Americana Block Party beginning at 12 noon to celebrate the Semiquincentennial. The block party will feature food, music, games, and much more, and will go on until 9 p.m. Sunday night.

To reiterate, Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History will be closed from Friday, July 17 thru Sunday, July 19, so staff can participate in the activities at the Minisink Battleground. 

All activities at the Battleground are free, thanks to the event’s sponsors, including The Delaware Company, the Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association, the Narrowsburg Union, Bold Gold Media, the Sullivan County Legislature, and the Sullivan County Division of Parks, Recreation and Beautification.

Other events coming up this summer include the one-woman play, A Revolution of Her Own: The Deborah Sampson Story at the Narrowsburg Union on Saturday evening, August 1, a commemoration of the Battle of Chestnut Woods in Grahamsville on September 5, and a showing of the movie version of the popular musical, Hamilton at the Narrowsburg Union on Saturday, September 19.