The 210th anniversary of the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

The Charlotte Observer 5/20/1985 p. 4B

Mecklenburg Declaration Celebrated

More than 100 people helped commemorate the 210th anniversary of the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence at Latta Plantation Park Sunday.  

Rod Autrey, vice chairman of the board of county commissioners, read the declaration, and Dr. Chalmers Davidson, archivist and director emeritus of the Davidson College Library, was the guest speaker.  

The signing supposedly was accomplished by Mecklenburg patriots more than a year before the nation declared independence from England.  

Though the date of the signing-May 20, 1775-appears on North Carolina’s state flag and seal, many historians doubt the existence of the declaration, supposedly lost in an 1800 fire.  

Sunday’s Latta Outdoors Festival and Latta Living Farm Day of the county park off Beatties Ford Road also included water activities, crafts, displays and a quilt display.  

The Mecklenburg Historical Association will hold its annual dinner tonight at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Dr. Norris Preyer of Queens College History Department will speak.