1776–2026 · The anniversary archive
Two hundred
& fifty years.
A house built in the nation’s founding year. An anniversary shared in 2026. Revisit the milestone and discover the lasting public space that helped carry the story forward.
Period musicians outside Dobbin House, from Destination Gettysburg’s anniversary collection.
A shared anniversary year
A milestone measured
in more than years.
In 2026, Dobbin House reached 250 years—the same anniversary year as the United States. The connection is chronological, but the house makes it unusually tangible: a surviving building whose uses extend from an eighteenth-century household and school to present-day hospitality and interpretation.
The year also recognized a modern chapter of stewardship. WHTM’s anniversary report records that Jacqueline White purchased the property in 1976. The August 26 gathering brought those fifty years of care into the same frame as the house’s two and a half centuries. A separate August 29 program announced dedications for the Square, its document displays and the commemorative bell.
The date needs a careful distinction. In his 1888 account, Glasgow suggested that dedicatory services in 1776 may have coincided with an August 26 church meeting. His wording was conjectural. The documented date of a modern celebration should not turn that suggestion into proof of the original house’s exact dedication day.
2026 / A record of the year
Gatherings.
And a new chapter.
August 26, 2026
Celebration reported
The house marks 250 years.
Dobbin House celebrated its 250th anniversary on August 26. Contemporary WHTM reporting records the gathering, while the archived program preserves the occasion’s announced activities. The milestone brought attention to both the eighteenth-century house and a new place for public history beside it.
Sources · August 26 news report · Archived celebration program
August 29, 2026
Archived dedication program
A new outdoor chapter.
The August 29 dedication program announced ceremonies for Dobbin House Square, its Charters of Freedom and the commemorative bell. Explore the archived listing as a record of the published program, then discover the completed outdoor museum in the tourism bureau’s current Square guide.
The Square’s document displays. Photograph: Destination Gettysburg.
The lasting legacy
An anniversary
you can still explore.
The most lasting addition is a place visitors can explore beyond the anniversary calendar. Dobbin House Square extends the invitation to learn through its document displays and commemorative bell. The current tourism guide presents it as a permanent outdoor museum with free admission.
The project also tells a preservation story of its own. Its engineering account documents the relocation of a separate Victorian building and the reuse of foundation stone. Those practical decisions give the new public space a material connection to the site, alongside its symbolic connection to 1776.
The anniversary is now part of the archive. The Square and the historic house remain places to encounter the questions, people and choices behind a much longer story.
The house continues
History lives on
in the welcome.
The anniversary belongs to 2026. The invitation continues: a closer look at the house, a thoughtful pause in the Square, a meal or a little more time in Gettysburg.