America at 250
A Series Presented by Retreat Farm, Vermont Public, & Vermont Community Foundation
Retreat Farm is proud to host a series of discussions with both local and national thought leaders in a significant moment in American history. Our next event in the series is September 17, and will center around strengthening community, citizenship, and civil society in a time of change and conflict, with panelists weighing in on our roles and responsibilities as citizens at this critical moment.
Learn more about our past events below.
December 10, 2025 - The Declaration Project, created by American pianist and NPR personality Lara Downes, is an invitation across the nation to explore and express our vision of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, imagining the next chapter of our American story.
For this musical conversation, Downes will be joined by Jill Lepore, professor of history and law at Harvard and a staff writer at The New Yorker whose recent books include We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution and These Truths: A History of the United States. Downes and Lepore will explore the past, present, and future of American democracy as expressed through its music, beginning with the song "My Days Have Been So Wondrous and Free" written in 1759 by founding father Francis Hopkinson. This conversation will be recorded and broadcast as part of NPR's America in Pursuit series.
In the weeks leading up to the event, Downes will engage the Brattleboro community in reflecting on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, celebrating our shared humanity and and the power of civic engagement, and inspiring a collective future rooted in the founding principles of our democracy.
The Declaration Project is a non-partisan, unbiased initiative meant to promote empathy, community, and unity.
March 11, 2026 - Presenting an evening of live, true stories told by Brattleboro-area community members as part of Retreat Farm’s America at 250 series.
This event is presented by Transom Story Lab, a nonprofit organization nationally known for training journalists and community members in the art of first-person storytelling for radio, podcasts, and live audiences. For more than 25 years, Transom has helped people turn lived experience into thoughtful, human stories that foster empathy and connection.
In the days leading up to the performance, storytellers will take part in an intensive workshop (March 7–9) led by seasoned trainers — including the Director of The Moth — and supported by Transom’s senior teaching team.
On March 11, in an event hosted by Jill Lepore with Tom Bodett as MC, those storytellers will share short, personal stories reflecting on what it means to be American today, exploring identity, belonging, responsibility, and hope through everyday experience.
May 7, 2026 - Leading historians discuss the origins, meaning, and legacy of America's founding document. Christopher Brown, Ken Burns, Maya Jasanoff, and Jane Kamensky comprise a panel moderated by Jill Lepore. The night begins with live music in the Farmhouse Square at Retreat Farm by local country band The Rear Defrosters, followed by the panel discussion at 6pm.
About the moderator: Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. A prize-winning professor, she teaches classes in evidence, historical methods, humanistic inquiry, and American history.
About the panelists: Christopher Brown is a professor at Columbia University and a historian of Britain and the British empire, principally in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with special emphasis on the comparative history of slavery and abolition, and with secondary interests in the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Age of Revolutions.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since his Academy Award-nominated film Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made.
Maya Jasanoff is a professor at Harvard University and the author of three prize-winning books. Her teaching and research extend from the history of the British Empire to global history.
Dr. Jane Kamensky is President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. A leading historian of early America and the United States, she worked for three decades as a professor and higher education leader, most recently as Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University.
September 17, 2026 - Save the date! Retreat Farm’s America at 250 series with Vermont Public and Vermont Community Foundation continues on September 17. This fall event will center around strengthening community, citizenship, and civil society in a time of change and conflict, and will feature local, state, and national leaders weighing in on our roles and responsibilities as citizens at this critical moment. More details coming soon!
Interested in supporting programming like this? Contact our Director of Development Brett Morrison at bmorrison@retreatfarm.org or 802.289.0026, or click here.