This year, across the country, communities are commemorating America’s 250th anniversary through a variety of programs and events. Cultural organizations have been planning for this national milestone for years. Groups such as the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) have been holding regular meetings, preparing resources such as handbooks and field guides, sending periodic updates and reminders about what is going on nationally, and otherwise helping smaller organizations across the country connect on a national scale to best plan how to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary in their own communities.
For our part, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum is hosting two exhibits related to America 250, a mobile museum, several film screenings, and Songs of the Revolution(s), a concert that will combine history and music in an engaging extravaganza!
Several years ago, as the 250th had just begun to appear on the horizon, national organizations like the Smithsonian and AASLH tasked all American museums and cultural centers with highlighting the connections between their content and the story of America’s birth. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which centers around a 20th-century event, doesn’t have an obvious direct connection to the American Revolution. However, music connects us all. So the museum’s curatorial team put their heads together and, in partnership with the Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, Mountain Empire Children’s Choral Academy (MECCA), and Theatre Bristol, developed a program that will take participants on a journey through America’s many revolutions by exploring the music of those movements.
Songs of the Revolution(s) will explore revolutionary moments in American and Virginian history through song and spoken word – from the American Revolution and the Civil War, to the fights for civil rights and women’s suffrage, to the evolution of industry and internet, and more. This concert will connect important moments when groups, communities, and even individuals brought about change throughout our nation’s history to musical pieces that reflect those changes.
From May to December, we are screening a special Smithsonian Channel Film Series exploring America’s 250th through a variety of subjects. Starting on the first Saturday of the month, each film will air daily at 2:00 pm for a full week (except Mondays), providing multiple opportunities to check out the film. These screenings are free and open to the public. July’s film was called A Star Spangled Story: Battle for America and a complete list of films can be found on our website, where we have created a central hub for America 250th events in Bristol, TN/VA. On the 26th of this month, in addition to the documentaries, we are also screening one of our favorite films that taps into both museums and national history, National Treasure!
This fall, we have teamed up with the City of Bristol, Virginia to bring three unique 250-themed exhibitions to Bristol. The exhibitions, Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation, and We The People: The World in Our Commonwealth, were curated by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) and will be supplemented with regional research conducted by museum staff to include Tennessee and related local history. The VA250 Mobile Museum Experience, titled Out of Many, One, was curated by VA250, The American Revolution 250 Commission.
Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation explores the unique and essential Virginian people, events, and sites that helped bring liberty and democracy to a nation. By highlighting the complex, diverse, and inspiring history that is America’s story, the exhibition provides context for the coming of the Revolution and brings visitors into the core of the action from 1774 through 1776, spotlighting how the American Revolution was a war, and more than a war. Give Me Liberty will be on display October 12–November 23, 2026.
We The People: The World in Our Commonwealth is hosted by the City of Bristol, Virginia, and will be on display at the BCMM October 26–December 7, 2026. The exhibition brings together distinct voices and perspectives on the immigrant experience and presents the deeply personal narratives of individuals born across the world who sought freedom, opportunity, and refuge by immigrating to the United States. Pairing historic accounts with contemporary stories, the exhibition highlights the profound way immigrants have both shaped and been shaped by this nation.
Out of Many, One is a hands-on, interactive, and immersive “museum on wheels” housed in an expandable tractor-trailer that has been traveling throughout Virginia and beyond since 2025. Hosted by the City of Bristol, Virginia, this VA250 Mobile Museum Experience is free and open to the public. It will be parked at BCMM from October 27–31, 2026. The exhibit explores the true meaning of America’s first motto, e pluribus unum, and demonstrates that the American Revolution isn’t just the story of a war, it is the story of world-changing ideas, courageous men and women, and a belief in the promise of freedom. Out of One, Many brings all of these stories together in one place and provides a more complete picture of the American Revolution.
As you can see, the Museum is looking forward to celebrating America250 with our community. We hope to see you at any (or all!) of these exhibits and programs so we can share this moment together.
Erika Barker, Curator of Exhibits and Outreach at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum