Mayor Elizabeth Fagan declared Sept. 17–23 Constitution Week in Summit, honoring the Beacon Fire Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Fagan presented the proclamation to chapter representatives at the Common Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 7, according to a City of Summit Facebook post. The Beacon Fire Chapter, founded in Summit on Dec. 7, 1922, has been active in the city for more than a century.
The chapter takes its name from a piece of Summit history most residents walk past without knowing. During the Revolutionary War, a signal fire sat atop a hill about a mile southeast of Chatham Bridge, according to the chapter's website. That hill is now called Beacon Hill. A cannon known as the "Old Sow" stood alongside the beacon, and both were used to alert local militiamen during the Battle of Connecticut Farms and the Battle of Springfield in June 1780, according to a Revolutionary War sites database.
The Beacon Fire Chapter remains active in Summit. Members place a wreath on the War Memorial on the City Green each year and march in the annual Memorial Day Parade. The chapter also dedicated a monument at Memorial Park honoring Summit's Revolutionary War patriots. Members have participated in a naturalization ceremony at Liberty State Park.
The national DAR organization, founded in 1890, has more than 190,000 members across 3,000 chapters worldwide. Beacon Fire is listed as Summit's chapter in the New Jersey DAR's Northern District.
Constitution Week itself dates to 1955, when the DAR petitioned Congress to set aside the week of Sept. 17–23 each year to mark the signing of the U.S. Constitution. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law on Aug. 2, 1956, as Public Law 915. Sept. 17 marks the anniversary of the 1787 signing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
No specific public events by the Beacon Fire Chapter during Constitution Week have been announced.
Upcoming
- Sept. 17–23: Constitution Week in Summit
- Oct. 2: Summit arts center opens three memory-themed shows
