In 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding. In Maine, the anniversary is being celebrated as Maine250, a unique opportunity to share our nation’s history. Here are some of the major events to mark the celebration in 2026.

Maine Historical Society: Revolutionary Maine: America at 250

Throughout 2026, the Maine Historical Society will sponsor exhibits in Portland and across the state that explore Maine’s role in the American Revolution and our country’s ongoing effort to uphold our founding principles. Signature Events include:

• Declaration of Independence Statewide Tour — A traveling interpretive experience visiting all 16 counties across Maine from July through October 2026, featuring one of only 26 copies of the Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration, printed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

• Maine Celebrates 250! Fourth of July Celebration — MHS is planning a civic ceremony and celebration commemorating the 250th anniversary in City Hall Plaza in Portland on July 4, 2026. The event will include a community reading of the Declaration of Independence by dignitaries and well-known Mainers; music; and opportunities to view the Declaration of Independence in the Pathways to Freedom exhibit and Wadsworth-Longfellow House.
• Pathways to Freedom: Maine Stories of the American Revolution — MHS’s 2026 signature exhibition, open through December 2026 in Portland and online via Maine Memory Network. It features rare objects, personal stories, including those of six Maine “Pathfinders” whose lives reveal the many ways the Revolution was shaped and experienced in Maine.
• Wadsworth-Longfellow House — New interpretive programs exploring the Revolutionary War experience of General Peleg Wadsworth, life in Portland in the era, and how growing up in the house influenced Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetry, which helped shape our national story, and led to the poet writing Paul Revere’s Ride.