Two hundred years ago, a French nobleman who helped a very young United States win the Revolutionary War toured the country.
Along the way, Gilbert du Motier — known as the Marquis de Lafayette — made a stop in Fayetteville, a town that had been renamed in his honor.
This year and next, on the eve of the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, the American Friends of Lafayette will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s 1824-25 Farewell Tour. That original tour happened after President James Monroe invited du Motier, the last surviving major general of the American Revolution, to visit the U.S.
Over 400 days and 25 states, Lafayette eventually made 250 stops in cities across the country.
Fayetteville, the first U.S. city named for Lafayette in 1783, will hold its celebration on March 4-5.
The bicentennial celebration of the Farewell Tour began in Staten Island, New York, on Aug. 15. Like the original tour, the celebration will last 13 months and cover more than 6,000 miles and 250 cities. It will end on Sept. 8, 2025, at Mount Vernon, Virginia — George Washington’s home — and on the Potomac River in Maryland and Virginia on Sept. 9. That was the date Lafayette’s ship sailed to the Atlantic Ocean and he began his return to France.
“You feel a sense that we’re all Americans no matter our political differences,” said Hank Parfitt, the chairperson of Planning Committee for Fayetteville’s Bicentennial Celebration of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour and a past president (2010-2022) of the Lafayette Society of Fayetteville. “When Lafayette visited, we were on the eve of America’s 50th birthday, so here we are on the 250th birthday. The similarities are just striking. This celebration dovetails nicely with what they call America 250. It’s a big campaign.”
America 250 is the national celebration for the United States’ 250th birthday in 2026.
“This (Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour) is a great lead-in to that,” Hank said. “Hopefully between the two events we will have a surge in true patriotism that includes respect for our fellow citizens.”
The first farewell tour
President Monroe, who left office in early 1825, saw Lafayette’s appearance as a way to unite the country, Hank said.
“His first term as president was a period of unity in the country. Political parties disappeared. They were called Democratic-Republicans,” Hank said. “In the election of 1824, the four people who ran for president were all from the same party. That’s where no one won the majority of electoral votes.”
After the election, won by John Quincy Adams through the House of Representatives, becoming president, while Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, Hank said the party began to splinter.
“His (Monroe’s) vision of ending his second term with the harmony he had in his first term was rapidly escaping him,” he said. “He felt this (Lafayette’s Farewell Tour) would be good for the morale of the country. And it was because here is a figure on the world stage representing liberty, justice, and equality.
“He’s come all the way from France to your little country which is barely turning 50 years old and tell you what a great job you’ve done, how you’ve carried the torch for liberty and democracy, and look at all the improvements you’ve made.”
Hank said that an estimated 6 million people saw Lafayette in 1824-25. The nation’s population was around 9.6 million in 1820, according to that year’s census.
The American Friends of Lafayette — a society dedicated to Lafayette’s memory, and “study of his life and times in America and France,” according to its website — has designated Fayetteville as a “premier bicentennial site” since it was the first city in the country named for Lafayette that he also visited, said Chuck Schwam, the executive director of the American Friends of Lafayette and head of its Lafayette Bicentennial Tour Committee.
In 1783, Cross Creek was renamed Fayetteville by the N.C. General Assembly, Hank said, noting that the patriotic sentiment was widespread.
Across the U.S., Chuck said there are now approximately 80 towns and cities named after Lafayette.
Gwenesta Melton, who succeeded Hank as president of the Lafayette Society, said, at the time of Lafayette’s tour, Fayetteville was the only city that was named after him that he actually visited, making the bicentennial celebration of the Farewell Tour an opportunity for the people of Fayetteville to be acknowledged and highlight the importance of Lafayette.
“We want everybody to see what has become of this community from 1824-25, to see that the city itself is trying to promote [Lafayette’s] ideals,” Gwenesta said. “Diversity in the city is important and we can demonstrate that when people come and see this city.”
Gwenesta said the Lafayette Society is working with the American Friends of Lafayette’s Bicentennial Tour Committee to promote the celebration, embarking on fundraising efforts and a variety of creative contests.
Planning for the event
Planning for the national tour began in 2021, Hank said. The Fayetteville Planning Committee for the Bicentennial Celebration of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour — supported by the Lafayette Society — began meeting in February 2022 and is a function to the organization.
The Fayetteville Planning Committee is “a cross section of Fayetteville organizations,” Hank said, with representation from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, the Fayetteville History Museum, the Museum of The Cape Fear Historical Complex, Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, and Fayetteville Technical Community College, and many others, as well as a liaison with city and county government.
“It’s really a community wide effort,” Hank said, “that way it represents the great diversity in our community.”
It’s a committee he’s proud of.
“This is a great committee with many people who have a passion for service to their community and who have developed a passion for Lafayette and his ideals, and are committed to our mission to commemorate, educate, and celebrate,” Hank said. “They have really grown as a group and are pulling together as a team.”
One of those committee members is Anna Meyer, the chairperson of the Marketing Committee and executive director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. Since Hank wanted the committee to represent the multitude of organizations in the area, Anna said she was happy to be a representative of FSO and the at-large arts community by serving on the committee.
Anna is also helping to plan live entertainment for the Farewell Dinner on March 5 and involving the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra in the process by holding a chamber music concert titled “Sounds of Lafayette” on Jan. 25 at First Presbyterian Church.
“This concert will feature music written by French composers, some of whom were prominent during Lafayette’s lifetime,” Anna said. “We hope our concert will serve as an exciting pre-event to the main celebration in early March.”
Fayetteville’s celebration
The celebration in Fayetteville begins March 4, with a reenactment of Lafayette’s horse-drawn carriage arriving, accompanied by the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry, his bodyguard 200 years ago.
After the afternoon entrance into Fayetteville, Dance Master Charles Steplively of Virginia and the historical musical group Syllabub will be the entertainment at an authentic Regency period costume ball from 6-9 p.m. at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. Tickets are $75 per person and $750 for a table of eight.
Janelle Preman, past regent of the Liberty Point Chapter of North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, is in charge of the ball.
“With Fayetteville being one of the premiere cities recognized nationally, we’re trying to make it a big deal,” said Janelle, 54, who served in the Army and works as a civilian for the U.S. Army Special Operations. “We have the entire facility (Cape Fear Botanical Garden) booked.”
Being a former member of the military, Janelle said the Lafayette celebration is very important to Fayetteville, adding that the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour is going to be amazing if it’s anything like the original.
“Since we’re home to Fort Liberty,” Janelle said, “it has a lot of meaning to us for what he did for our military and where we are now.”
On March 5, event attendees can take the ticketed Lafayette Trail Tour with a guide or do a self-guided tour with a free app called TravelStorys Audio Guide during the afternoon.
“Methodist [University] probably has, in the Lafayette collection, one of the nation’s largest collections of artifacts or souvenirs related to Lafayette’s visit. And they will be on display and people can run out there,” Hank said. “Ramsey Street is only 10 minutes away from downtown and during this event you can see the collection on display.”
The carriage that Lafayette rode in also will be on display at the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry (F.I.L.I.) Armory and Museum, Hank said. This is for attendees who have purchased a ticket for the Lafayette Trail Tour, the Lafayette Ball, the Farewell Dinner or any of the three.
The nightcap will be on Wednesday evening with a dinner from 6-9 p.m. at the Linda and Ralph Huff Orangery at Cape Fear Botanical Garden with live music and theatrical portrayals of scenes from Lafayette’s visit. Tickets are $95 per person and $1,000 for a table of eight.
“For those who attend these events,” Hank said, “it’s a nice balance of learning some fun facts about history but at the same time be entertained.”
More details can be found on the organization’s Facebook page “Lafayette Society.” Other information can be found at the Lafayette Society’s website, lafayettesociety.org.
Fayetteville is one of seven places in North Carolina holding celebrations, Hank said. The others: Murfreesboro on Feb. 26, Jackson on Feb. 26 as well, Halifax on Feb. 27, Enfield on Feb. 28, Falls of the Tar (Rocky Mount) on Feb. 28, and Raleigh from March 1-2.
The committee in action
Much work already has been done for the March event, but much more is ahead.
For example, the Fayetteville Planning Committee had to navigate one challenge in the form of dates for the event. Fayetteville did not get a weekend to host the celebration since The American Friends of Lafayette wanted to maintain historical accuracy by granting each city their celebrations on the exact dates Lafayette visited them 200 years ago, Hank said.
But, Hank said, Fayetteville also has some advantages given their celebration days are Tuesday, March 4, and Wednesday, March 5, thus not competing with weekend events in the area.
“We do expect a good attendance from out of state but we also must have good representation locally from the people here,” he said. “And for the people in Fayetteville it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So we want to use this again as a way to lift up Fayetteville and show the world that Fayetteville is a good place to live, work, and play.”
Hank stresses it’s much more than a one-person job and offered as an example how the committee members changed the location of the March 4 procession into town.
“When you go into an event that involves this many people, a committee can just save you,” said Hank, who is also a retired urologic surgeon and owns Center City Gallery & Books with his wife Diane. “It can help correct some of your ideas that may sound good in the beginning but you realize that somebody else says, ‘Hey, you know we don’t have to do it this way. Let’s do it this way.’”
Hank said the original intent was to stage the procession by closing all of the streets downtown while coming up Person Street, but that proved unwise given all the construction downtown.
Someone spoke up at a committee meeting last month, Hank recalled, suggesting Lafayette Plaza as a great place instead given the nature of the celebration honoring Lafayette.
“It’s actually going to be quite dramatic and it’ll be really well done,” Hank said. “So that was just a great example of the committee coming up with an alternate plan that’s going to be better than the original.”
The guiding light for the Fayetteville Planning Committee, as well as the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour, is of course, the Marquis de Lafayette and his ideals.
“Celebrating Lafayette allows us to reflect on the history and formation of our country and community,” Anna said. “This celebration has the potential to bring people together to celebrate the American values of liberty and equality, as exemplified by Lafayette.”
In preparation for March’s events, the Lafayette Society is hosting multiple creative contests. Find out more here.
Read CityView Magazine’s “Fall in Fayetteville” September 2024 e-edition here.
Glad they fixed the Marquis’ leaking crotch. It drew your eye when you stood in front gazing upon the statue.
That was from Silly String someone sprayed on there. It was fixed with the restoration 4 years ago. Phase 2 of the brick surround for Lafayette Plaza was completed around the same time and now Cross Creek Park is a beautiful gem in
our Historic Downtown, a place for celebration, recreation, and thoughtful contemplation.