131st Annual July 4th Reading Of Declaration Of Independence In Bridgewater

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Since 1895, the Washington Camp Ground Association has hosted the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence at Middlebrook Campground in Bridgewater, the site of General Washington’s Troop Encampment.

The event, free and open to the public, will start at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 4, at the Middlebrook Camp Ground in Martinsville (GPS address: located at 1761 Middlebrook Rd, Bound Brook, NJ 08805). Rain or shine.

They will also present the changing of the flags as part of the annual changing of the Hopkinson flag ceremony.

Bring your lawn chairs or blankets, and "sit back and listen to the beautiful words of our forefathers on the very spot they stood!"

For more information, visit facebook.com/groups/1873739912821643.

The Declaration was an official act taken by all 13 American colonies in declaring independence from British rule.

The celebration commemorates the encampment of the fledgling American Army in the area from May 28 to July 2, 1777, and again from December 1778 to June 1779. The Middlebrook Camp Ground, where George Washington's Troops camped, is also the location where the first official American flag, a 13-star flag designed by Francis Hopkinson, was flown in 1777 for the first time over troops.

There is a special act of Congress that allows the flag to be flown at this site 24 hours a day without lighting.

The park was established in 1894. Legend has it that the land was donated to the Washington Camp Ground Association by George LaMonte of Bound Brook, on the condition that the Declaration of Independence is read every 4th of July, or the land would revert to the heirs of the LaMonte family who donated it.

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.