Nantucket, South Live Cam

How many times in your life have you had a chance to see the Declaration of Independence? Possibly never, right? But now you and your family will have that opportunity, from July 8 through August 6, when the Nantucket Historical Association will exhibit a rare 1776 copy at the Peter Foulger Museum, 15 Broad Street.

To kick off the exhibition, the Nantucket Historical Association will hold a public celebration on Sunday, July 8, begining at 12 noon with a ribbon cutting ceremony and remarks by NHA president Arie L. Kopelman. Free red-white-and-blue rocket popsicles will be distributed, and the Nantucket Community Music Center Jazz Band will play musical selections. Admission to the exhibition will be free for the day.

This document is a 1776 Dunlap broadside, one of four surviving originals kept in private collections and the best preserved of the 25 originals that still exist of the 500 printed. It will arrive on Nantucket after being part of the 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia and will be the centerpiece of an exibition examining the effect that the American Revolution had on the island 225 years ago.

Television producer Norman Lear and Internet entrepreneur David Hayden purchased the broadside in an online auction at Sothebys.com a year ago. The pair is now launching a nationwide tour of the Dunlap copy to educate and inspire Americans with the freedoms granted and promised in the Declaration's preamble. Nantucket Island is one of the first stops the document will make in its tour.

The pacifism of many islanders, requiring neutrality, earned them scorn and accusations of being Tories. George Washington himself called Nantucketers "unfriendly and notoriously disaffected to the cause of American liberty." And in fact, many islanders were Tories — moreover, when the war began, multitudes of Tories fled from the mainland to the island, hoping to go from there to London, or at least to escape danger.

Conversely, a number of Nantucketers opted to move to the mainland, where their Patriot sympathies were not questioned. It was a time of great conflict and anxiety for those on the island whose main business was whaling. Nantucket was between the fabled rock and hard place. The Continentals came and raided barns and storehouses for supplies, even stealing 50 whaleboats. And the "Refugees," a motley group of mainland Tories who had been forced from their homes and businesses by the Patriots, continually raided the island, cheered on by the British. It's an interesting and complicated story, but the end result is that during the war, Nantucket's whaling industry declined, and the islanders suffered financially.

Perhaps things began looking up with an event that occurred in 1783. In that year, a Nantucket whaleship, the Bedford, was the first vessel to fly the new American flag in the port of London. This was before the treaty ending the war had even been signed. But it signaled a positive change; even so, the island had a huge task ahead — to rebuild its whale fleet and the economy. Doubtless the words of the Declaration of Independence began to take on a deeper meaning for Nantucketers as the healing began. And "in the end, " in Niles Parker's words, "Nantucketers and their whale fishery proved to be resilient. Nantucket once again became the leading port."

The Nantucket Historical Association will celebrate the broadside's month-long stay on the island with a variety of special events and programs planned for the community.