February 25, 2023–The Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society’s 13th annual celebration of the Leedstown Resolutions took place today at Ingleside Plantation Winery.
More than 100 society member and guests helped celebrate the precursor to the Declaration of Independence with speeches, the presentation of memorial wreaths and a lunch catered by Angelo’s Restaurant of Montross.
The Leedstown Resolutions were created and signed by 115 local men on February 27, 1766 near the winery on the Rappahannock River, ten years before the Declaration of Independence. The resolutions were a protest to the 1765 Stamp Act and other oppressive laws created by Britain’s Parliament. The Stamp Act was created at the end of the French and Indian War of 1763 to help pay down Britain’s debts and loan interest. The action of defiance put at risk the men’s wealth, land holdings and lives.
Leedstown was once a prominent seaport on the Rappahannock in between Port Royal and Tappahannock.
It wasn’t until ten years later that the fledgling colonies were organized enough to band together to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Bob Bailey took on the roll of Francis Lightfoot Lee during the meeting today; while Charles Belfield personified brother Richard Henry Lee.
Belfield responded, in character, to a question about how wives felt about their husbands risking life and home to such radical actions. “Our wives thought about the same things. Rich or poor or enslaved… everyone was discussing independence,” he stated. “It was the start of what we are still struggling with today.”
Other speakers on the morning’s program included Charles R Sydnor, Jr., immediate past president of the historical society and Chris Flemer, marketing director of Ingleside Plantation Winery.
Comments were also offered by Thomas M. Moncure, Jr., a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and current town councilman in Colonial Beach.
