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245th Anniversary Weekend Kickoff

Concert and Panel Presentation: The Battle of Ridgefield Study: Where we are, How we got here

Battle of Ridgefield 245th Anniversary logo

Friday, April 29, 2022 @ 6:00 pm 7:30 pm EDT

10 East Ridge Road
Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877
+ Google Map
$10 Suggested Donation—Proceeds to support ongoing research of the skeletal remains discovered in 2019.

The Ridgefield Historical Society will launch the anniversary weekend with a special event featuring a performance by the Ridgefield High School Symphonic Orchestra, followed by a panel presentation unveiling the most recent Battle of Ridgefield findings, based on the discovery of Revolutionary War skeletal remains in late 2019 in Ridgefield. 

The panel will be moderated by Connecticut State Historian, Walter Woodward, and will include current and Emeritus State Archeologists, Sarah Sportman and Nick Bellantoni; Heritage Consultants experts David Naumec and Kevin McBride; and author and historian, Keith Jones.

The Program

Ridgefield High School Symphonic Orchestra

The orchestra will perform several period pieces including: a Gordon Jacob transcription of English composer William Byrd’s March to the Battell from his Virginal book, renamed The Earle of Oxforde’s Marche; the first movement of Mozart’s 40th Symphony in G minor composed in 1788, representing the transition from the Baroque Era to the Classical Era, which occurred around the time of the Battle of Ridgefield; a brief but delightful String Quartet written by founding father Benjamin Franklin while he was in Paris in 1778; and finally O’er the Hills by American composer Francis Hopkinson, also written in 1778.

The Ridgefield High School Symphonic Orchestra is an auditioned, full orchestra that includes winds, strings, and percussion.  Formed in 2012 under director Michael McNamara, the group has become one of the elite ensembles at RHS and the state of Connecticut.

Panel Presentation: The Battle of Ridgefield Study: Where we are, How we got here

Moderator: Walter Woodward, CT State Historian
Nick Bellantoni, Emeritus CT State Archeologist
Sarah Sportman, CT State Archeologist
David Naumec and Kevin McBride from Heritage Consultants, LLC
Keith Jones, historian and author

The presentation will feature key learnings from the 2019 discovery of historic remains in Ridgefield, and how they have altered and impacted what we already know.


This program is presented in partnership with the Ridgefield Library.

Upcoming