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This is the twenty-third in a series of articles leading up to the Lafayette Farewell Tour Bicentennial celebration. For earlier articles, see suffolkva250.com/history/.

By Frank and Gloria Womble

The Suffolk Visitor Center, Riddick’s Folly, and the Constantia Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, will welcome General Lafayette on Sunday, Feb. 23, at the former site of the Nansemond County Courthouse at 524 North Main Street in Suffolk, where he arrived in 1825. 

This free, family-friendly event includes activities for children under the pavilion and next door at Riddick’s Folly from 1 to 3 p.m. 

The 7th Virginia Regiment’s encampment will demonstrate what life was like for the militia during the American Revolution. At 2 p.m., Lafayette will proceed from the Seaboard Train Station down Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage. At the Visitor’s Center, the Southside Community Band will entertain with music that Lafayette loved. When Lafayette arrives, American Friends of Lafayette board member Frank Womble will introduce the Rev. Dr. Lou Ventura, Regent, Constantia Chapter, DAR; Council Member John Rector (Suffolk Borough); and Suffolk Masonic Lodge No. 30 Worshipful Master Sam Parker; who will formally welcome him. Lafayette will recall the adventures of his encampment at Sleepy Hole in March 1781 during the Virginia Campaign. After the ceremony, the public will have the opportunity to meet Lafayette.

The Suffolk Lafayette Bicentennial Committee and Constantia Chapter, DAR, will host a banquet in Lafayette’s honor on Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront, 100 East Constance Road, Suffolk. The presenting sponsor for the evening is TowneBank. Lafayette, portrayed by Colonial Williamsburg’s Mark Schneider, will be the guest of honor. Lafayette will be formally welcomed during the opening reception, where the Mayor will read the City of Suffolk’s Proclamation of Lafayette Week. The dinner begins with the same thirteen toasts given 200 years ago. Music of the Regiment will perform with period instruments and a repertoire written for Lafayette. American Friends of Lafayette Vice President, Robert Kelly, Director of the Gloucester Museum of History, will deliver the keynote address. Guests are kindly requested to wear period dress or cocktail/business attire. This event is sold out.

General Lafayette will be welcomed to Historic Somerton on Wednesday, Feb. 26, from 11a.m. until noon on the grounds of the Washington Smith Ordinary, 8442 Arthur Drive, Suffolk. The Ordinary is the only building still standing in Suffolk that he visited in 1825. Lafayette and his entourage will arrive by a horse-drawn carriage. They will be escorted to the site by bagpiper, Heather Moore. Council Member John Rector (Suffolk Borough) will formally welcome Lafayette. Lafayette will talk about his experiences on the Farewell Tour so far, and how Suffolk and Somerton came to be the start of the Southern tour. Lafayette will be introduced to members of the Committee of Arrangements from Murfreesboro, North Carolina, just as he was in 1825. Co-host Constantia Chapter, DAR, will provide refreshments to the attendees, who will have the opportunity to meet Lafayette. As Lafayette and his escorts depart for Murfreesboro, the bagpiper will play “Auld Lang Syne.” This event is generously supported through a grant from District 1, Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution and donations from Southern Bank and an anonymous donor.

The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts exhibit, “Celebrate Lafayette: Soldier, Statesman, Champion of Human Rights,” is open through March 1 in the TowneBank Gallery. It highlights memorabilia from the Farewell Tour and other vintage items on loan from William W. Cole. The American Friends of Lafayette’s traveling panels, a unique map of the Farewell Tour route through the 24 states that Lafayette visited, and period artwork are also on display.

The Suffolk Lafayette Bicentennial Committee includes the American Friends of Lafayette, Suffolk 250, the Constantia Chapter DAR, Riddick’s Folly, Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, and the Suffolk Nansemond Historical Society.