NORTH CASTLE – A REVOLUTIONARY TOWN - by Geri Mariano June 26, 2025
After a rousing community premiere on April 4th, North Castle: A Revolutionary Town returns for a back by popular demand screening on Sunday, June 29th, 2025, 4:00 PM at North Castle Library’s Whippoorwill Hall in Armonk.
The premiere was attended by such luminary and local historical figures such as General George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Major Andre and Ann Miller. General Washington even led the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
The film, a project by local resident Steve Hillebrand of Hollywood East Productions, depicts the important role North Castle played at the start of the Revolutionary War here in our own backyards. Christine Eggleton stars as a school teacher engaging students in an one room school house, sharing the story of our town’s pivotal role in our country’s bid for Independence starting in 1776.
As our nation begins a year long celebration of its 250th birthday next year, our town has also begun to mark this monumental event by showing this film to the community, to students in Byram Hills and Valhalla School Districts and most recently by digging up a time capsule buried in 1976.
The Revolutionary War 250 Steering Committee has many exciting events and activities planned over the next year culminating in festivities on the July 4th weekend. This film is a great way to kick off the summer season by revisiting the events in our own town that help shaped our nation’s future. Before many kids head off to camp, this would be a great film for them to see so that they may then share their town’s role in the Revolutionary War with camp friends.
In a discussion following the April premiere, Hillebrand shared that the most challenging part of the filmmaking was there there was so much rich material to include. North Castle’s Revolutionary story begins with the battle of White Plains and of Miller Hill in North White Plains. The most fun part of filming for Hillebrand was working with the re-enactors.
If you’re looking for an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon staying cool this Sunday, June 29th, come to Whippoorwill Hall to be captivated by our town’s heritage which contributed to our nation’s founding. A Q&A session will take place after the viewing.
The Declaration of Independence
On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration. John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies, and commanders of the Continental troops. The Dunlap Broadsides weren’t signed, but John Hancock’s name appears in large type at the bottom. One copy crossed the Atlantic, reaching King George III months later.
The Declaration of Independence is composed of four parts – the Preamble, the List of 27 Grievances, the Resolution of Independence and the Mutual Pledge.
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The document was written on parchment and, one by one, 56 representatives from all 13 colonies signed it making this Mutual Pledge:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
On July 11, 1776, Judge John Thomas stood on the steps of the courthouse in the little village of White Plains and read aloud the Declaration of Independence. The British responded by sending a trained army against a poorly trained militia of farmers.
From October 28 until November 5, 1776, the British soldiers occupied the area then-called the white plains. The last of the battle encounters was at Miller Hill in North Castle when Col. John Glover and the Marblehead, Massachusetts militia seamen stopped the British soldiers’ northward advance.
““The American semiquincentennial begins now, marking the 250th anniversary of this country’s founding,” Rick Atkinson writes.
”Like the bicentennial five decades ago, it’s an opportunity for both celebration and reflection on who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and — perhaps the most fearsome question any people can ask themselves — what they were willing to die for.”
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