America's Bi-Centennial Celebration! Poem by Gladys Henderson

Rode a bus
from Watertown, NY
to Philadelphia, PA,
in July 1976.
Walked across
J.F. Kennedy Blvd.
Registered at the Hotel Sheraton,
host of the Unity Church Convention.
Touched the Liberty Bell.
Toured the home of Dolly Madison,
where she resided with Mr. Todd,
her first husband.
Signed and dedicated self
to the new Declaration of Independence.
The book was sealed later
for a reopening in the year 2076.
Visited Valley Forge --
where wagon trains were gathered.
Viewed replicas of cabins,
bunked in by Washington's army.
His soldiers were ill clothed,
went hungry and barefooted,
due to a bickering Congress.
Out of their pain
was born our nation.
Returned to Philadelphia,
Attended a worship service
at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel,
home of the Legionnaire's disease.
Later the hotel was demolished.