Gather Place Focuses On America 250 Celebration

YARDLEY BOROUGH, PA — Shirley Lee Corsey is ready to roll.

After over a year of planning, Corsey is ready to launch the Gather Place Museum as Bucks County's hub of activity for America's 250th anniversary celebration this year.

The executive director is excited to kick off festivities as an America250PA Officially Recognized Program, also strengthened by a Bucks County Tourism Grant Program supporting the production and promotion of the museum's initiative of "America's Women Trailblazers."

"I'm hoping people really get excited about this anniversary, like they did with the Bicentennial" Corsey told Patch this week. "I feel pretty good that Gather Place is bringing America 250 officially to Yardley."

Corsey has unveiled a Gather Place Gallery 250th Open House from Noon to 3 p.m. this Friday and Saturday at the museum on South Canal Street. See flyer below

"We will have a working exhibit all year," said Corsey.

She said that the Gather Place Museum — a non-profit affiliate of Bucks250PA and America250PA — and its supporters celebrate 250 years of "courage, resilience, and achievement, honoring the spirit of freedom and unity that continues to inspire communities locally and across the nation."

“As a woman of color, I’m honored to speak for those whose stories were too long left untold, overlooked, or forgotten — often told by others instead of in our own voices,” Corsey said of the museum, which emphasizes Black and Women's History. “As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I didn’t see enough sustained storytelling that truly celebrates America’s women, particularly those who shaped this nation in quiet, courageous, and world-changing ways. That absence makes this work feel urgent and sacred, and I’m grateful to the Gather Place team for walking beside me as we tell the story by us, for us, and for all who deserve a fuller, truer history."

Located in the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church of Yardley (est. 1877) —a National Register of Historic Places landmark —the museum highlights the interconnected histories of African Americans, Quakers, women, and everyday citizens whose lives shaped America locally and nationally.

Schedule of Semiquincentennial Events

Jan. 9-10

Gather Place Gallery 250th Open House & Semiquincentennial Launch – Community Open House — Visitors are welcome to experience newly curated exhibitions, enjoy light refreshments, attend special presentations connecting Yardley and Bucks County to the national story, and meet Gather Place “History Maker” re-enactors.

ShopRite of Yardley is providing food for the event while WHYY will have a table set up to hand out information.

February (Living History, Local Stories, and Community Dialogue)

The museum’s winter programming will immerse audiences in pivotal American stories through first-person portrayals, illustrated lectures, and narrative presentations. Programs explore themes of
freedom, leadership, resilience, and community formation — featuring figures such as Harriet Tubman, Hannah Penn, Susanna Warder, Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Rosa Parks —while also examining the early history of Yardley and its African American roots.

March / April (America's Women Trailblazers — Women’s History Month)

In March, Gather Place Museum presents "America's Women Trailblazers," a four-part Women’s History Month lecture series made possible by 2025 Bucks County Tourism Grant funding.

Inspired by Abigail Adams’s 1776 call to “remember the ladies,” the series spotlights both celebrated and long-overlooked women — many with Pennsylvania and Bucks County ties — whose leadership and advocacy helped shape the nation.

Throughout 2026

With three years of impactful programming behind it, the Gather Place Museum will continue its mission to “Bring History to Life.”

Throughout the year, the museum will offer its America 250th-aligned educational programs for
schools, libraries, museums, faith-based and community organizations, and civic and heritage groups.

Those offerings include first-person historical portrayals, lectures, workshops, guided museum experiences, and local history tours — available on-site and through community partnerships.

(Gather Place)