Clayton Historical Association

10/16/2026

10/03/2026

Well, the video of the Reading of the Declaration of Independence video at the "America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton's Story" is finally finished and is included in the "What A Day" blog recap https://www.historyofclayton.org/post/what-a-day of the event from September 12 on the Clayton Historical Association website!

10/02/2026

CLAYTON HISTORIC GHOST WALK UPDATE:

We're incredibly grateful for the enthusiastic response to our recent call for Ghost Walk actors and volunteers.

Building on the success of our Ghost Walks in 2019 and 2025 and inspired by the community support shown during the America 250 Heritage Festival just a few weeks ago, the Clayton Historical Association has decided to develop the next "Clayton Historic Ghost Walk" for Spring 2027. This gives us an opportunity to welcome more volunteers, actors, sponsors, and community partners while creating an even richer experience that celebrates Clayton's unique history.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to bringing our community together once again to share the stories that make Clayton such a special place. In the meantime, join us at our booth at the Clayton Harvest Festival October 24 on Main Street in Downtown Clayton, NC!

09/14/2026

What a day!

The "America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story" was a great success on Saturday, with more than 500 people joining us at Town Square in Downtown Clayton, NC to experience some of the sights, sounds, skills and stories of life in and around 1776.

Throughout the afternoon, visitors enjoyed demonstrations and exhibits featuring **blacksmithing, pitch and turpentine, beekeeping, historic tools, a Native American display, North Carolina folklore, birds of prey, an African apothecary, spinning, period clothing, and ragdoll making.

Camp Flintlock brought even more of 1776 to life with quill-and-ink writing, tomahawk throwing, fife and drum music, and a colonial store.

The Clayton Historical Association hosted three tents filled with Clayton artifacts and local history, while Clayton's Deep River Brewing debuted its limited-run commemorative b**r created with CHA, “Gregory’s Ordinary American Lager.”

Another highlight of the day was our "Reading of the Declaration of Independence", presented twice—at noon and again at 2:30 p.m. The rain arrived during the second reading, but it certainly didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our readers or the audience who stayed to hear the Declaration proclaimed!

We’ll be posting a video of the complete 2:30 p.m. reading on the Clayton Historical Association website within the next few days, so watch for an announcement.

We hope these photos give you a sense of what a special day it was. And if you were there and took pictures, we’d love to see them! Please share them with us at [email protected].

Thank you to everyone who came out Saturday, and a very special thank-you to the volunteers, members and Board of Directors who gave their time and energy to make the festival happen.

Finally, the "America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story was made possible through the generous support of our sponsors:

Duke Energy
Town of Clayton, NC Government
HomeTowne Realty
“Aila’s Journal,” historical fiction by Charles M. Clemmons

Thank you to our sponsors, participants, volunteers—and especially the 500+ people who came out to celebrate Clayton’s story with us!

09/11/2026

**THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE — READ LIVE. TWICE!**

At the *America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story* this Saturday, one of the highlights will be two public readings of the **Declaration of Independence — at 12 noon and 2:30 p.m.**

In 1776, North Carolina ordered the newly adopted Declaration to be “proclaimed in the most public manner” in communities across the state.

**Two hundred fifty years later, we’re carrying on that tradition in Clayton.**

Community leaders, business owners and Clayton-area residents will take turns reading portions of the Declaration from a stump at Town Square.

Our readers are Black and white, women and men, and represent different ages, backgrounds, professions and experiences. They won’t be portraying people from 1776. **They’ll be the people of Clayton in 2026 — giving voice to words that remain part of our American story.**

**READINGS**
12:00 noon
2:30 p.m.

Read more, including the names of the Readers https://www.historyofclayton.org/post/reading-of-the-declaration-of-independence-twice

The Clayton Historical Association will also have **FREE copies of the Declaration of Independence** available at our tents throughout the festival, while supplies last.

**America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story**
Saturday, September 12 | 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Clayton Town Square | 100 W. Main Street
**FREE ADMISSION**

Come hear the words that helped launch a nation — proclaimed publicly once again, 250 years later.

One of the highlights of the America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story on Saturday, September 12, will be two live readings of the Declaration of Independence, at 12 noon and 2:30 p.m. Community leaders, business owners and other Clayton-area residents will take turns reading port...

09/11/2026

EXPERIENCE 1776: THE SIGHTS, SKILLS & SOUNDS OF HISTORY

What did everyday life look and sound like in this part of North Carolina 250 years ago?

This Saturday, the America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story will fill Clayton Town Square with the skills, sounds and traditions of an earlier time.

Watch a blacksmith at work. See how candles were made and fibers were spun into yarn. Explore historic hand tools, learn about beekeeping, make your own rag dolls, natural medicines and apothecary traditions. Get an up-close look at birds of prey. Hear the unmistakable sounds of fife and drum and experience demonstrations of Revolutionary-era muskets and ri**es.

And there’s a story behind nearly everything you’ll see.

Spinning, for example, wasn’t simply household work. During the Revolutionary era, producing and wearing homespun cloth became a symbol of self-reliance and resistance to British rule.

Blacksmiths kept farms working and wagons moving. Bees provided honey and wax. Handmade toys reflected the thrift and creativity of colonial families. Natural medicines drew upon Indigenous, European and African traditions.

Even the tavern played an important role. Taverns and “ordinaries” were gathering places where travelers ate, drank, exchanged news and discussed the issues of the day.

We’ll remember that tradition with Gregory’s Ordinary, a limited-run American l***r brewed especially for the festival by Deep River Brewing. It takes its name from Etheldred Gregory, who operated an ordinary at Hinton’s Quarter near present-day Clayton.

And come hungry: Brunswick stew may have arrived after the Revolutionary era, but it became part of the Southern tradition of community gatherings and meals shared around a big pot.

Together, these demonstrations and exhibits offer small windows into a world where most things were made by hand, daylight governed the working day, skills passed from one generation to the next—and even spinning thread into cloth could become an act of revolution.

Read more about the stories behind everything you'll see on the Clayton Historical Association blog page. https://www.historyofclayton.org/blog

Come experience some of the sights, skills, sounds—and tastes—of history for yourself.

AMERICA 250 HERITAGE FESTIVAL: CELEBRATING CLAYTON’S STORY

Saturday, September 12
11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Clayton Town Square
100 W. Main Street
Admission is FREE

Sponsored by the Clayton Historical Association, Duke Energy, Hometowne Realty (HTR), and “Aila’s Journal” by Charles Clemmons.

09/11/2026

There's a busy weekend ahead in Downtown Clayton.

Friday morning join the Clayton Fire Department and Clayton Police Department for the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony commemorating the 25th Anniversary of September 11 at Municipal Park. The ceremony will start at 9am.

Friday night is the last concert of the summer: Downtown Clayton Concert: CD & The Mix with Peridot Sun Food Trucks, B**r, W**e, Bounce House, Photo Booth and two great bands!

Saturday Morning starts with the Clayton Farm and Community Market in Horne Square from 9am-1pm.

From 11am-3pm on Saturday join the Clayton Historical Association in Town Square for a step back in time for the America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton's Story. Learn more: https://www.townofclaytonnc.org/m/newsflash/home/detail/1056

Explore all that Downtown Clayton has to offer at https://viewer.mapme.com/downtownclayton

09/07/2026

See everyone this Saturday!

A NEW B**R. AN OLD CLAYTON NAME. AND YOU CAN TASTE IT SEPTEMBER 12!

There’s a little local history brewing for the America 250 Heritage Festival: Celebrating Clayton’s Story!

Deep River Brewing Company, in partnership with the Clayton Historical Association, has created a limited-run American l***r especially for the festival.

Its name?

GREGORY’S ORDINARY.

And it will be unveiled and available for sale for the first time at the festival on September 12!

The name comes straight from Clayton’s past.

Beginning in 1778, Etheldred Gregory operated an “ordinary”—a colonial-era inn or tavern—in the former Johnston County courthouse at Hinton’s Quarter, near the east end of present-day Front Street. Gregory’s Ordinary operated there until the building burned in 1809.
More than two centuries later, Gregory’s Ordinary is returning to Clayton—this time in a glass!

And there’s another great local connection: Deep River Brewing has operated since 2013 in Clayton’s former Liberty Cotton Mill and is known as Johnston County’s first legal brewery - a fun distinction in a county with a colorful moonshine history!

BE AMONG THE FIRST TO TRY GREGORY’S ORDINARY!

Visit the festival b**r garden—appropriately called “The Ordinary”—from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Saturday, September 12
• 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Clayton Town Square | 100 W. Main Street
• Festival admission is FREE

Come for the history. Stay for the b**r. Raise a glass to 250 years of American history—and a little Clayton history, too!

The America 250 Heritage Festival is sponsored by: Clayton Historical Association Duke Energy HomeTowne Realty and Aila’s Journal by Charles M. Clemmons