Bushy Run Battlefield to celebrate state charter day in Penn Township on Sunday

Pennsylvania’s birthday, 341 years and counting, will be celebrated this weekend at the Bushy Run Battlefield, site of a crucial 1763 battle during Pontiac’s War along what is now Route 993 near Harrison City.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, complimentary guided tours of the museum and battlefield will be offered along with 18th-century reenactors and historical demonstrations. There will be light refreshments and other activities, including tasting and purchase of wine from the Bushy Run Winery. Museum admission will be free.

It will be the fifth annual Charter Day Celebration and Free Museum Day sponsored by the Bushy Run Battlefield Heritage Society Inc., said Shawn MacIntyre, museum facilitator. The state was created when England’s King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn in 1681. Once a year, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission makes the charter available for viewing in Harrisburg.

Bushy Run’s Charter Day celebration was created by Emily Liska, a volunteer at the battlefield site, as part of her senior project at Penn-Trafford High School.

More information on Charter Day is on Bushy Run’s Facebook event page, facebook.com/BushyRunBattlefield, and website bushyrun battlefield.com.

On March 19, Bushy Run will sponsor a symposium on Pontiac’s War, of which the 1763 battle at Bushy Run between British and Colonial soldiers fighting the Native Americans was a key component. The symposium opens at 9 a.m.

Among the speakers will be Brady Crytzer discussing Guyasuta’s role in the political and ideological formation of Pontiac’s War; Jay Toth on a native perspective on the battle; and Roger Mazarella, who speculates on what if Col. Henry Bouquet’s mission to break the Native American siege at Fort Pitt had been stopped at Bushy Run.

Tickets are $35 to $75. Registration is available online through Eventbrite, or at the museum during business hours.