Malden To Mark 250th Anniversary Of 1776 Instructions At Bell Rock Park

MALDEN, MA — Residents are invited to Bell Rock Memorial Park on Wednesday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Malden Instructions and the town’s role in achieving American independence in 1776. Bell Rock is located at the corner of Main Street and Wigglesworth.

The event will begin with several period-specific songs performed by a group of young musicians from the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corps. Local historian and period actor Tom Coots is scheduled to perform the annual reading of the town’s “Instructions.” The program will also include the unveiling of what the announcement describes as a “new” 100-year-old memorial bell, returning a bell to the park. According to the city, a bell was suspended from the Bell Rock for more than a century. It summoned townspeople to religious services, marked funerals and opened town meetings and market days. The town bell also called Malden’s minutemen to turn out and join the battles for independence in the spring of 1776.

The “Instructions of the Inhabitants of Malden, Massachusetts to their Representatives in Congress" was unanimously voted on by the townspeople of Malden on May 27, 1776. The document was to be delivered to the Second Continental Congress through Malden representative Ezra Sargeant.

In that 1776 communication, the voting citizens of Malden renounced the colony’s ties to the Kingdom of Great Britain and expressed their wish to become an independent “American” republic. The document is credited in the announcement as a precursor to the Declaration of Independence.

The event is sponsored by the Adelaide Breed Bayrd Foundation. The Department of Public Works, Cemetery Department, Malden Historical Society, and the Malden Public Library are also assisting in organizing the event.

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