Yesterday we drove across the river into Philadelphia to visit Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other sites. I was awed by the fact we were walking in the same places as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Hancock and so many others. Our day began finding a parking space. We have a Ford F350 dually and it is hard to park. We thought we could park in the Independence Hall parking garage but it had a height of 6’6 and that’s the height of the truck, so we journeyed on. We were 25 minutes early but I began to fear we would miss our time slot until we finally found a place that would take the truck. We walked the three blocks to Independence Hall and went through security. I have been surprised that so many places have required us to go through an airport security type line.
The tour was led by a volunteer former history teacher. He was very informative. We entered into the Pennsylvania Supreme Court room first and then into the Assembly Room. We were told there was very little that was original in Independence Hall because the British burned everything that was wood to keep warm. But there were a few things. A walking stick or two, a quill, books that belonged to John Hancock. But the amazing thing was there is an original chair that George Washington sat in at the Constitutional Convention. It is called the Rising Sun chair.
The chandelier is a reproduction made in the late 1700’s from descriptions. It was amazing to be there and I continue to be amazed that we have remained a united country for so long. Although not so united right now, perhaps not really ever.
After our brief visit here we went to see the Liberty Bell that is housed across the street. You can get up fairly close and walk around it. It is something I never thought I’d see.
We walked toward Betsy Ross’ house and came across the Christ Church graveyard. There is a $5 fee per person and you can also pay a little extra to get a guided tour. We paid the fee and walked around on our own. There are five signers of the Declaration of Independence there including Benjamin Franklin and his family. I’m not sure why people are leaving money on the graves. Maybe someone else knows.
We journeyed on to the home of Betsy Ross. I was surprised to find out that she didn’t own the house, only rented rooms. It is a nice self-guided tour. There is a woman portraying Betsy Ross and I asked her lots of questions. It was a fun tour.
We then went to the Benjamin Franklin Museum. His home is no longer there. It was torn down in the 19th century. But the walkway he walked along is there and there is a nice museum.
Our last stop of the day was The Museum of the American Revolution. I’m not sure if we were allowed to take pictures but the displays were difficult to get a good picture anyway because of the lighting. We watched a short film about the American Revolution and then went upstairs to watch another short film about George Washington and his tent. They have the original tent he used during the Revolutionary War so he could be near his troops. I highly recommend watching it and seeing the tent at the end. There are several pictures online that we were given access to download.
We had to cut the visit short as we were late getting back to the truck. I have decided Tom and I would be divorced if we went on the Amazing Race. We disagree on directions often but this time I was right and got us to the parking garage. I was actually amazed myself. We enjoyed Philadelphia a lot.
We had a marvelous day and I hope your days are marvelous too.
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