Will include fireworks, mock signing of Declaration of Independence

On Aug. 2, 2026, the Town of Mendon will hold a series of events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

Events will include historic trolley rides, access to the Ammidon Tavern, a concert and fireworks. There will also be a mock signing of the Declaration of Independence by 56 Mendon residents. 

Activities include: 

12:30-2:45 p.m. 

-  Historic trolley rides of historic Mendon (reservations required) 

-  Ammidon Tavern open with a living history display along with a slide show of the tavern

-  Mendon Resolutions on display at the Upper Town Hall along with other historic items

3 p.m. - Mock signing of the Declaration of Independence 

6:30 p.m. - Band concert at Memorial Park

9 p.m. - Fireworks at Memorial Park

Years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on March 1, 1773, Mendon Town Meeting approved the “Mendon Resolutions” which included 19 resolutions that foreshadowed ideas later found in the Declaration of Independence. 

According to archive.org, those resolutions included (verbatim): 

1. Resolved, That all men have naturally an Equal Right to Life, Liberty and Property.

2. Resolved, That all just and lawful Government must necessarily originate in the free Consent of the People.

3. Resolved, That the Good, Safety and Happiness of the People is the great end of Civil Government, and must be considered as the only rational object in all Original Compacts and Political Institutions.

4. Resolved, That a principle of Self Preservation, being deeply planted by the God of Nature in every human breast, is as necessary not only to the well being of Individuals, but also to the Order of the Universe, as Attraction and Cohesion are to the preservation of material bodies and the order of the Natural World, Therefore

5. Resolved, That a Voluntary Renunciation of any Powers or Privileges, included or necessarily connected with a principle of Self Preservation is necessarily acting counter to the Great Author of Nature, the Supreme Legislator, Therefore,

6. Resolved, That a Right to Liberty and Property (which is one of the Natural Means of Self Preservation) is absolutely UNALIENABLE, and can never, lawfully, be given up by ourselves or taken from us by others.

7. Resolved, That the claim of the Parliament of Great Britain to the power of Legislation for the Colonies, in all cases whatever, is extremely alarming and threatens the total deprivation of every thing that is dear and valuable in life, and is, we humbly conceive, abhorrent from the spirit and genius of the British Constitution which is LIBERTY; destructive of the Immunities and Privileges granted us in our Royal Charter, which assures to the Inhabitants of this Province all the LIBERTIES AND IMMUNITIES OF FREE AND NATURAL BORN SUBJECTS OF ENGLAND; and in reality is not reconcilable to the most obvious principles of Reason, as it subjects us to a State of Vassalage and denies those essential NATURAL RIGHTS, which, being the gift of GOD ALMIGHTY, is not in the power of man to alienate.

8. Resolved, That the late Revenue Act, by which the Commons of Great Britain have assumed and exercised a Power of Giving and Granting to his Majesty the property of the Colonists, without their consent, is a grievous Infringement of the Right of disposing of our own Estates.

9. Resolved, That the unlimited power vested in the Commissioner of the Customs of creating inferior Officers and Collectors and the exorbitant power to these under officers and Ministers to enter, at pleasure, any houses or other places and to break open trunks, chests, &c. upon bare suspicion of goods concealed, is a grievous Violation of the Sacred Right of Domestic Security.

10. Resolved, That introducing and quartering Standing Armies in a free country in times of peace, without the consent of the People, is a violation of their rights as Free Men.

11. Resolved, That the enormous Extension of the Power of the Courts of Vice Admiralty, in a great measure deprives the People in the Colonies of the Inestimable Right to Trials by Juries.

12. Resolved, That the Act passed in the last session of Parliament, entitled "An Act for the better preserving his Majesty's Dock Yards, Magazines, Ships, Ammunition and Stores," by virtue of which Act the Inhabitants of the Colonies may, for certain supposed offences committed against said Act, be arrested and carried, from their families, to any part of Great Britain, there to be tried, is an Infringement not only of our Constitutional Privileges as Colonists, but of our Natural essential Rights as Men.

13. Resolved, That the Acts for prohibiting Slitting Mills for manufacturing our own iron and restraining the Manufacture and Transportation of Hats, as they deprive us of the natural advantages of our own climate, the produce of our own country and the honest fruits of our own Labour and Industry are very unreasonable and injurious.

14. Resolved, That the Act restraining the transportation of Wool (the produce of our own Farms) even over a ferry, subjects the Inhabitants of this Province to a great an unreasonable Expense, and a violation of our Charter Privileges, whereby all Havens, Rivers &c. are expressly granted to the Inhabitants of the Province and their Successors, to their own proper use and behoof forever.

15. Resolved, That the fixing a Stipend to the Office of the Governor of this Province, to be paid out of the American Revenue, rendering him independent of the free Grants of the People, has a necessary tendency to destroy that Balance of Power which ought to exist between the several branches of the Legislature.

16. Resolved, That the affixing Stipends to the offices of the judges of the Superiour Court of Judicature and rendering them independent of the People and dependent on the Crown for Support may hereafter (considering the depravity of human nature,) be improved to purposes big with the most fatal consequences to the good People of this Province.

17. Resolved, That the wresting out of our hands Castle William, the principal fortress of this Province, and garrisoning it with his Majesty's regular Troops is a violation of our Charter Privileges.

18. Resolved, That it is the mind and desire of this Town that the judges of the Superiour Court of Judicature and all other Officers who receive grants from the Province should have an honourable support agreeable to the dignity and importance of their respective stations.

19. Resolved, That the Representative of this Town be and he is hereby instructed to use his utmost endeavours, in a constitutional manner, for the Redress of the aforementioned grievances ; and that he in no wise consent to the giving up of any of our Rights, whether derived to us by nature or by Compact or Agreement.

…Voted that the foregoing Resolves be entered in the Town Book that our Children, in years to come, may know the sentiments of their Fathers in Regard to our Invaluable Rights and Liberties.”

Resolutions source: https://archive.org/details/annalsoftownofme00metc/page/316 

In 1773, Mendon Town Meeting signed 19 resolutions some of which would later be reflected in the nation’s Declaration of Independence in 1776. Excerpt from “Annals of the town of Mendon, from 1659 to 1880” by John George Metcalf (1880). Source: https://archive.org