As part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of the United States in 1825, the Historical Halifax Restoration Association and the Enfield Lafayette Planning Committee collaborated on a project aimed at actively involving students in learning about his role in the American Revolutionary War.

Not only are the students invited to the free event at a historic Enfield home where Lafayette addressed the crowds during his tour in 1825, but 100 books were recently purchased and distributed to the fourth and seventh grades in all Halifax County elementary and middle schools — public and private. 

The book, Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, covers the deep bond between Washington and Lafayette.

Halifax Electric Membership Corporation awarded a Halifax Helps Grant to assist with the purchase of the books. In addition to the book, which was written by Selene Castrovilla and illustrated by Drazen Kozjan, an accompanying lesson plan covering Lafayette’s involvement during the Revolutionary War and his subsequent tour of the country 50 years later will be distributed to county teachers so they can prepare students for the free commemorative event being held in Enfield at the Cellars on February 28. That event begins at 11 a.m.

Spearheading this project is Larry Armstrong, an Enfield lawyer and member of Historical Halifax Restoration Association, founded in 1955, and the Enfield Lafayette Planning Committee, and Wanda Sykes, an administrator at NCSU Extension and also a member of both groups. 

The American Friends of Lafayette said there are hundreds of national events planned that will trace Lafayette’s footsteps on the exact dates and in the exact order he followed on his tour of America as the Guest of the Nation between 1824 and 1825. 

But, as far as Armstrong knows, the Enfield event is the only program that specifically involves students by engaging them in active learning prior to the event as well as interactive participation on the day of the event. “It’s important that students in Halifax County understand how pivotal their county was in the shaping of American history,” he said. “The reenactment of Lafayette’s Grand Tour gives them an opportunity to see — up close and personal — that America’s favorite fighting Frenchman thought it important enough to visit their small town.”

The Enfield Executive Committee — Larry Perkins, Dennis Doran, Suzann Anderson, Wayne Anderson and Armstrong — along with the subcommittee, Julia Andrus, Debbie Armstrong, Kitty Turner, Andrew Doran, Sally Griffin, Bobby Whitaker, Brenda Greene, Susanna Martin, Mike Redic, Ann Newbern, Jerome Battle, Wanda and Phil Sykes and Andrew Wirtz — will continue planning the reenactment festivities.