America250 in College Station

In College Station, patriotism is in our DNA. You feel it in Texas A&M's Corps of Cadets and at the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, where service and honor are woven into who we are. So when America turns 250, you can bet we celebrate in style. Come mark the occasion across town with a series of events, concerts, exhibits, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can only be found right here in the Heart of Aggieland®.

I Heart America Celebration at Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater

America turns 250 this year, and College Station is marking the moment the way the Lone Star State does best — with Texas country, cold watermelon and a sky full of fireworks…

Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial

The Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial marks the nation's 250th birthday with a reading of the Declaration of Independence at 9 a.m. on July 4. Held at the Memorial's American Revolution site, the reading is followed by 56 community leaders — one for each original signer — adding their names to a commemorative document. This event is free and open to the public.

Learn more about BVVM and their A250 programming here.

George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum

Spend the morning of America's 250th birthday at the Bush Library and Museum. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 4, enjoy bounce houses, crafts, face painting, balloons and refreshments; then join the nationwide "Let Freedom Ring" ceremony at 1 p.m. on the plaza, ringing in 250 years of independence. Admission is free all day, including the new exhibit, E Pluribus Unum: Celebrating the American Experience.

Honor the 250th at the Library and register for this fun, family friendly event here.

america250

President George Washington

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if the design of Providence was that an immense territory, and a single nation, should be united to one people.

Liberty Bell Replica moving to James A. Baker III Pavilion

Most states keep their Liberty Bell in the capitol. Texas keeps its bell with the Aggies. One of the full-size replicas the U.S. Treasury cast in 1950, the Texas Liberty Bell was entrusted to Texas A&M in honor of the university's deep history of military service — and for decades it has hung high in the rotunda of the Academic Building. This summer, it comes down to eye level: the one-ton bell is being moved temporarily to the James A. Baker III Pavilion, adjacent to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum, where visitors can stand right beside it for pictures and learning opportunities. There's no better time to see it than the nation's 250th birthday.

Learn the full history of the Texas Liberty Bell and how it came to call Aggieland home.

Museum of the American G.I.

The American Revolution wasn't just fought, it was financed, often on little more than faith. Currency of Independence, a new exhibition at the Museum of the American G.I., tells that lesser-known story through 28 original Revolutionary-era notes that once paid soldiers, bought supplies and passed through the hands of farmers, shopkeepers and ordinary families. Their value rose and collapsed with the fortunes of the war, but their meaning endured. It's a rare, tangible look at how belief, as much as any battlefield win, built a nation. On display through August 2.

What's a revolution worth on paper? Find out before the exhibit closes.

Brazos Valley African American Museum

Behind the familiar names of the Revolution are countless others whose stories rarely reach the history books. At the Gates of Freedom: Black Experiences in the Revolutionary Era at the Brazos Valley African American Museum brings them forward. This America 250 exhibit explores the courage and resilience of African Americans during the founding era, from the fight for equality to the daily contradiction of living in a country that proclaimed liberty while practicing slavery. It's an invitation to reflect on who was present at the nation's beginning, and whose freedom was still out of reach.

Step into the full story today through September 26 - explore the exhibit.