Van Wagner, Fair Play Man!

From Van his own self:
It’s been 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence…in Jersey Shore PA.
Jersey Shore?!?!
The Fair Play Men were a group of 18th-century illegal settlers (squatters) in the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley. Residing in the area of present-day Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, near Pine Creek, they established their own self-rule system between 1773 and 1785.
Because their settlements predated official agreements with Native Americans, they could not seek protection or legal standing from the colonial government. To maintain order, they created the “Fair Play System,” which included elected commissioners who managed land claims, property rights, and local disputes.
Their most famous legacy is the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence (often called the Tiadaghton Declaration). On July 4, 1776, prior to receiving word of the official Declaration in Philadelphia, the settlers gathered beneath a massive elm tree and declared their own independence from Great Britain.
My father still remembers the Elm Tree standing in the 1950’s when his father would take him and his brothers to visit the site.
I vaguely recall the stump being there in my childhood in the 1980’s.

Join me for an evening of music that celebrates the heritage of the region of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and the “Fair Play Men”.