Moore County now has, on permanent display, replicas of America’s founding documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the more recent Civil Rights amendments. Known as the Charters of Freedom, the display was dedicated Wednesday in a ceremony at the Moore County Courthouse in Carthage.
Moore County Commissioners and other dignitaries were on hand for the dedication. Prior to the ceremony, the Union Pines High School drum line gave a rousing performance. After that, Moore County Manager Wayne Vest introduced the presentation of the colors by the Moore County Sheriff’s Honor Guard and a moving performance of the national anthem, sung by Miss Moore County Callie McIntyre.
Union Pines High School marching band performs at the Charters of Freedom ceremony on Oct. 18.
Foundation Forward, the organization that donated the display to the county, was represented by the group’s founder, Vance Patterson. He explained the replicas were inspired by a visit to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., 12 years ago. He told the crowd seeing the original documents was a moving and emotional experience for him and his wife, and he wanted others to have that experience.
He related a humorous story about how, during a subsequent visit, they obtained the approximate dimensions of the documents. He said visitors can’t just take a measuring tape to the archives, so he paced off a few steps, and his wife made measuring marks on her body, so they obtained the dimensions using “two paces by a short guy, and marks on his wife’s body.”
There’s a time capsule in the display’s base, signed by county commission members and many of the ceremony attendees. The letters are from local government and law enforcement officials. The display’s base makes it unmovable and strongly resistant to damage. It goes down about 3.5 feet and weighs approximately 37,000 pounds.
The display has three primary reasons: education, access, and community. Patterson urged parents to take their children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces to visit the display and to educate them about the history behind the document and what it means to be an American.
The display in Moore County is the 49th one in North Carolina, and Foundation Forward’s goal is to have as many as possible across the country and to place one in each of the 100 North Carolina counties. There are Charters of Freedom displays in Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia.
The display was given to Moore County by the foundation, and to help with fundraising for the display, citizens were asked to purchase bricks honoring people with engraved names for $100.
Smoke fills the ceremony after a cannon volley on Oct. 18.
Wednesday’s ceremony ended with a cannon volley — seven shots were fired to signify all of the articles of the Constitution.
The Charters of Freedom is located at 102 Monroe Street.
To learn more about Foundation Forward, click here: https://www.chartersoffreedom.com/
Feature photo: Ceremony attendees admire the new Charter of Freedom exhibit at the Moore County Courthouse in Carthage on Oct. 18.
~Article and photos by Sandhills Sentinel reporter Steve Biddle.
