Continental Insurance

The theme of the pavilion is "Great Moments of the American Revolution." The facade of the exhibition building forms a strikingly modern shadow box, which frames an outside projection screen for showings of a musical cartoon view of history. On display within the building are dioramas, large color transparencies and works of art.

View towards Continental

Continental Insurance was one of the pavilions that rarely had a line, as visitors could look through the displays at their own pace. (CD #33 Set 173 #1)

Front view

Another pretty, but slow, day at Continental Insurance. (CD #15 Set 77 #13)

Continental screen

A Parade of Heroes. "Cinema '76," a continuous 30-minute screen show, is seen from a viewing platform that holds 200 spectators. In cartoon and song, the show tells of Revolutionary War heroes, some known to all Americans, some obscure. Among them:

  • Sharpshooter Timothy ("Double-barreled") Murphy picked off a British general at the Battle of Saratoga.
  •  Lady in uniform. Deborah Sampson, fought as a Continental soldier.
  •  Mounted scout Allan McLane gathered intelligence and funneled British food into Patriot larders.
  •  Marblehead fishermen, led by John Glover, successfully extricated Washington's defeated force by boat from the Battle of Long Island, and later rowed it to success at Trenton.
  •  Able drillmaster General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who could swear in four languages, molded an army.
  •  Commander in Chief George Washington

    • Many of the people who passed by the pavilion may not have realized there was a film shown behind the Revolutionary War trio at the front entrance. (CD #27 Set 147 #2)

    Battles, Maps and Paintings

    Battles, Maps and Paintings. A Continental soldier (the exhibitor's familiar trademark) stands inside the exhibit building in a color transparency of a painting by Tom Lovell. Dioramas show - among other things - the winter encampment at Valley Forge; the Battles of Bennington, Fort Moultrie and Long Island; and, on a simulated sea, Captain John Paul Jones's Bonhomme Richard, her guns blazing, fighting Serapis rail to rail. Also on the exhibit floor:

  •  Patriotic paintings, commissioned by Continental Insurance over the years, are on display.
  • Transparencies detail some of the operations of The Continental Insurance Companies.
  • An illuminated map of the U.S. shows, by push button, facts and figures about the entire U.S. or any of the 50 states.

    • In this diorama view, Sgt. William Jasper is depicted raising the flag at the battle of Sullivan's Island, SC. (CD #TBD Set 301 #TBD)

    Industrial Area pavilions