Event Name: Robert Fulton’s “Clermont” Bicentennial Celebration.

Host of event: Southern Lancaster County Historical Society

Date: September 26, 2009

Time: 10:00 A. M. to 5 P. M.

Place: Robert Fulton Birthplace on Pa. Rte. 222; 6 miles south of Quarryville.

Admission: Free

The Southern Lancaster County Historical Society is hosting a celebration of the day when Robert Fulton’s steamboat, “Clermont,” successfully sailed up the Hudson River at an average speed of 5 miles per hour. This act rewarded Robert Fulton and his backer, Robert R. Livingston, the contract for all commercial steam traffic on that river.

The Bicentennial of this event will feature period music by the Lancaster County Folk Music and Fiddlers Society and our Swift School Band; a children’s area with fun projects, art, and a face painter; reenactments, poetry and speeches. School projects of all kinds will be on display. Food will be provided by the Wakefield Lions Club and the Lancaster County Dairy Promotion. Souvenirs will be available including, laser cut ornaments and earrings, postcards, Tee shirts, etc. Special tours of the Robert Fulton Birthplace will be given by Solanco School children.

On the grounds, weather permitting, will be steam contraptions of all kinds. Steam tractors, Stanley Steamer automobiles and even a large model steam locomotive. A remote controlled steam boat group will demonstrate their boats on a nearby pond and transportation will be provided to the nearby site. We also expect to have a Red Cross wagon from WWI and a steam calliope. The famous Powl’s “chick slide” will be there. More fun will be across the road as a “Little, Old and Slow presentation will take place in the brick warehouse.

Besides the Southern Lancaster County Historical Society, others who are helping to make this day a success are the Solanco School System, Wakefield Ambulance Association and Wakefield Lions Club. Our local church youth groups and Scouts will also be there to help. Our thanks go out to all our local businesses who helped sponsor the day, whether by purchasing a program ad or by donation.

Robert Fulton was born in what is today Fulton Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on November 14, 1765. He became, in his short life, a portrait artist, silversmith, and inventor. Among his inventions and designs were a submarine called the Nautilus in 1800, an early torpedo, and canal systems for France and Great Britain. He died on February 24, 1815, of Pneumonia after saving a friend who had fallen through the ice on the Hudson River.

The centennial of the steamboat’s success was celebrated in 1909. The people of the “Southern End” of Lancaster County, with the help of the Lancaster County Historical Society, came together in a big way to enjoy the day. A caravan of 25 automobiles made the journey to the birthplace of Robert Fulton from Lancaster city. It is said that the most revenue ever generated in one day on the Lancaster, Oxford and Southern Railroad, which ran through the Fulton House property, was on the day of the centennial.