Hundreds of Colonial War enthusiasts from the US are planning to visit Bermuda next year to celebrate the Island’s historic links with America.

The General Society of Colonial Wars, which was established in 1893, will bring around 300 of its members to the Island for a week from May 3, 2015. The organisation “fosters tributes to those who shaped America’s Colonial history which took place during the period beginning with the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia on May 13, 1607, and preceding to the battle of Lexington in April 19, 1775”.

The society, which has more than 4,300 members, will also be holding its annual meeting during the Bermuda visit — the first time the meeting has been held abroad.

The trip has been organised through Marston Webb, the New York-based public relations company that works for the Corporation of Hamilton.

Confirming the trip yesterday, the group’s planning committee chairman Charles Poekel said the majority of attendees would be travelling to Bermuda on the cruise ship Breakaway.

“We are thrilled that the event is becoming a reality,” Mr Poekel said.

“This will be the first time the General Society of Colonial Wars will be meeting outside the US. It’s a very special event that will bring over 300 society members and their families to the Island,” he said.

Mr Poekel added that Hamilton Mayor Graeme Outerbridge and the Corporation had been helping to arrange a number of “special events which will celebrate Bermuda’s historical ties with early America”.

“We look forward, as well, to meeting with Governor George Fergusson and with Ed Harris, the executive director of the Maritime Museum, where we plan to attend receptions and seminars,” he said.

Mayor Outerbridge said he was delighted that plans were moving forward to bring the society to Bermuda.

“It’s exciting and so very appropriate that the meeting should be held in Bermuda in the 200th anniversary year of the inauguration of the City of Hamilton,” he said.

The Corporation has pencilled in a $100,000 payment to a US organisation that will be holding a conference in the city in October. The funds have been allocated to help the National Conference of Black Mayors cover the cost of the event.

But it is understood that a similar payment will not be made to the General Society of Colonial Wars, with one Corporation insider explaining that the group will be coming here “on their own dime”.