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HBF’s Lise Sundrla earns Martha Washington Medal

Dec. 17, 2025

Media contact: Lise Sundrla, Executive Director, Historic Beaufort

Foundation, 843-379-3331 or info@historicbeaufort.org

HBF’s Lise Sundrla earns Martha Washington Medal for leading Beaufort’s Lafayette Bicentennial celebration

For her leadership organizing “an army of volunteers” to celebrate the 200-year-anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s triumphant Beaufort visit, Historic Beaufort Foundation Executive Director Lise Sundrla has been awarded the Martha Washington Medal by the Sons of the American Revolution Gov. Paul Hamilton Chapter.

Randy Atkins, president of the chapter, presented the honor Dec. 13 at the group’s annual meeting held at the Dataw Island Club. “The Marquis de Lafayette returned to Beaufort this past March and the City, led by Historic Beaufort Foundation president, Lise Sundrla, recruited an army of volunteers to celebrate the occasion and roll out the red carpet,” Atkins said.

“What resulted was one of the most successful commemorative events that our chapter, HBF and the City have helped orchestrate. It truly was a day to remember, and the Gov. Paul Hamilton Chapter is pleased to have been involved,” he said.

“This Martha Washington Medal set and Certificate are a token of our appreciation for (Sundrla’s) leadership, service to the Beaufort community and to our Sons of the American Revolution.”

A highlight of the March 18, 2025, event was a re-creation of Lafayette’s arrival and procession through downtown Beaufort. Renowned Lafayette interpreter and US Army veteran Mark Schneider played his part in the Beaufort commemoration. For more than 25 years Schneider has worked at Colonial Williamsburg portraying the French aristocrat who arrived in America at age 19 to help lead the battle for independence.

Downtown Beaufort’s sidewalks and Waterfront Park were packed with thousands for the celebration, including hundreds of school children who came to witness history recreated.

“The HBF Board of Trustees congratulates Lise on this recognition and we join the Sons of the American Revolution in thanking her for taking the reins and leading the Lafayette Bicentennial celebration in Beaufort,” said Rob Montgomery, chair of the HBF Board of Trustees. “I also want to thank the dozens of partners and hundreds of volunteers who rallied together to make the event happen. It was a magical day for Beaufort and one that likely will be remembered for generations, thanks to all the school children who participated that day,” he said.In April 2025, Beaufort City Council passed a resolution recognizing the efforts of HBF and the Bicentennial Committee and declaring that March 18, 2025, shall now and forever be known as Lafayette Bicentennial Celebration Day in Beaufort.

Though little documentation exists, historic anecdotes persist that Lafayette greeted Beaufort townspeople from the steps of the Verdier House on Bay Street. In recognition of his stop in Beaufort, HBF partnered with the Lafayette Trail, Inc. and the Pomroy Foundation to erect a marker in front of the Verdier House designating Beaufort as a location on the national Lafayette Trail. “It was my honor to receive the Martha Washington Medal, but the Lafayette Bicentennial truly was a partnership with our entire greater Beaufort community,” Sundrla said. “The committee put in hundreds of hours planning and preparing and all of our partners contributed in so many ways to make this celebration a huge success.”

The Governor Paul Hamilton Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and the state society were instrumental in bringing the recreation of Lafayette’s 1825 visit to life. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French Nobleman and military officer who volunteered to join the Continental Army, led by Gen. George Washington, in the American Revolutionary War. He commanded the troops in the decisive siege of Yorktown in 1781, the final major battle that secured American Independence, and he is remembered as a “Hero of the Nation.”

In August 1824, Lafayette began his “Farewell Tour of the Nation” in Staten Island, NY. He was the last surviving major general of the American Revolutionary War. His tour included 24 states, ending September 6, 1825, in Washington, DC where he celebrated his 68th birthday at a White House banquet with President John Adams.

In his 1825 visit to Beaufort, Lafayette arrived to a 13-gun salute by the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery and mounted officers from the St. Luke’s Guard. Carriages then carried Lafayette and his family through a triumphal arch for a welcome address by the Beaufort mayor. Shortly after, a reception and ball ran into the early morning hours.

HBF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit education foundation created to preserve, protect, and present sites and artifacts of historic, architectural, and cultural interest throughout Beaufort County, South Carolina. For more information on the entity’s mission and history, please visit www.historicbeaufort.org and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.