Go back in time with Beverly Heritage Day Saturday
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BEVERLY – Beverly Heritage Day will transform the town of Beverly back in time and will feature a full day of activities during the annual event that is scheduled for Saturday.
The focus of this year’s event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will be commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the 2026 theme “Building Beverly, Building the Nation.”
Beverly Heritage Day is free to the public and will feature living history, primitive encampments, educational lectures, live music, interactive games for kids, food vendors, and more. There will be a charge for food and craft items purchased from vendors.
This year’s special guests will include the Mountaineer Fifes & Drums from West Virginia University, and National Heritage Fellow Gerry Milnes from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Fifes and Drums Corps is a specialized ensemble that performs a mix of military music, traditional folk songs, and American Revolution-era music using authentic rope-tension drums and 10-hole fifes.
Milnes, meanwhile, is a local historian, archivist and musician, who was named this spring as a 2026 National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellow, which is the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
The event will kick off with a welcome from the WVU Mountaineer Fifes & Drums Corps at 10 a.m. and the Declaration will come to the town of Beverly by horseback at 10:30 a.m.
Activities around town will begin at 10:30 a.m. and Larry Jent, a storyteller, musician and indigenous historian, will perform at 11 a.m. Settlers Reunion opens at the IOOF building at 11 a.m. and Mrs. Morgan will perform organ music at 11:30 a.m.
There will be acoustic music from Fair Play at noon and the WVU Mountaineer Fifes & Drums Corps will perform at 1 p.m. Milnes will take center stage at 2 p.m. and there will be a Settler’s Reunion Gathering at the IOOF building at 3 p.m.
Mark Rutherford will speak about the Westfall Family at 3:30 p.m. and Stehphen Hart will address those in attendance about the Hart Family at 4 p.m. There will be a Forging Liberty Exhibit at the Laura Jackson-Arnold House throughout the day and tours of the historic Collett House, 1841 Jail, Subscription School, Randolph County Museum, and Beverly Heritage Center.
Also on Saturday, the Beverly Fireman's Queen Pageant will take place at Beverly Elementary School at 5 p.m. The The annual Beverly Fireman's Festival will continue throughout next week, culminating in a parade and many other activites on Saturday, July 25.
For more information visit on Beverly Heritage Day, visit the Beverly Heritage Center’s Facebook page or its website at beverlyheritagecenter.org. Information can also be obtained by calling 304-637-7424.