Pennsylvania, USA - Iva Boishin

PhiladelphiaGettysburg

Every time that I visit Philadelphia, I learn something new about the diverse city. There is a little of everything! I highly suggest taking the different free walking tours at every trip; you will surely hear new and interesting stories.

A special thanks to Free Tours by Foot for all of the information.

The largest Quaker meeting place is built on a grave of 30,000 Quakers. Because Quakers believe in absolute equality, they do not believe in being ostentatious or in displaying wealth. As a result, they did not mark graves in any way, which allowed for the building of this meeting place on those thousands of Quaker graves. This is also the reason why the building is so simply built and unadorned.
<p>Furthermore, due to this goal of equality, the Quakers were the first to set up schools for boys <em>and girls</em>.</p> — The largest Quaker meeting place is built on a grave of 30,000 Quakers. Because Quakers believe in absolute equality, they do not believe in being ostentatious or in displaying wealth. As a result, they did not mark graves in any way, which allowed for the building of this meeting place on those thousands of Quaker graves. This is also the reason why the building is so simply built and unadorned.
Furthermore, due to this goal of equality, the Quakers were the first to set up schools for boys *and girls*.

This is the only grave marker that is found around the Quaker meeting place. Samuel Nicholas was born to Quaker parents but he never acted in accordance with his religion. Whereas Quakers are supposed to abstain from drinking and violence, Nicholas joined the Continental Marines and was heavily involved in both. He is sometimes referred to as the "Fighting Quaker" and was the first head of the Marines. Because his values seemed to contradict those of the religion, he was given a simple grave marker (which is very ostentatious in Quaker terms).

Built between 1720 and 1830, these houses on Elfreth's Alley belonged to middle-class families at the time and are some of the oldest buildings in Philadelphia. As Joseph pointed out, even though this may not be that old in European terms, 100 years is a long time in the United States and 100 kilometers is a long distance in Europe.

As is evident by the yellow flag, many of the residents on this street joined the revolutionaries. Many of the middle-class families were always looking for ways to save money on taxes, most of which they deemed unfair. For example, the residents of the house with the flag used the mirror contraption next to the flag as a security camera. Whenever someone knocked on the door, they would first look at the mirrors to see if it was the tax collector. If it was, they would slip out the back in order to get out of paying taxes for a couple of days. On the other hand, the building on the right simply exploited the tax law in order to owe as little as possible. Because taxes were based on the window width of a house, the number of rooms in the house and the number of stairs leading up to the house, these owners made their house narrower but deeper and higher. In this way, they still had the same livable land as their neighbors but they only paid half the amount of tax that their neighbors did. The revolutionaries noticed that the issue of taxes was a big sticking point for middle class families, they often harped on all of the taxes imposed by the Crown in order to gain supporters for their revolutionary cause.

Founded in 1695, Christ Church became the first Episcopal Church. When the congregation became too large for the wooden church, it was torn down and replaced. The architects wanted to create the largest church in the new land. Building from 1727 until 1744, the church was completed. It wasn't until 1754, though, that the steeple was built, making it the tallest building in the colonies until 1810. Christ Church is one of the two buildings in Philadelphia that have had almost no changes done to them since they were built.
<p>Joseph calls this the most historic building in Philadelphia because the founding fathers are 100% likely to recognize this building if they were brought into today's day and age. All of the founding fathers are sure to have visited this church as they often walked from Liberty Hall to this church to pray together after meetings. While not a religious man, Ben Franklin rented two pews to show to his guests that he knew important people and to show off to the other founding fathers that he could afford two pews. The priests are believed to have said that they always knew when Ben Franklin was in attendance as they always heard him snore.</p> — Founded in 1695, Christ Church became the first Episcopal Church. When the congregation became too large for the wooden church, it was torn down and replaced. The architects wanted to create the largest church in the new land. Building from 1727 until 1744, the church was completed. It wasn't until 1754, though, that the steeple was built, making it the tallest building in the colonies until 1810. Christ Church is one of the two buildings in Philadelphia that have had almost no changes done to them since they were built.
Joseph calls this the most historic building in Philadelphia because the founding fathers are 100% likely to recognize this building if they were brought into today's day and age. All of the founding fathers are sure to have visited this church as they often walked from Liberty Hall to this church to pray together after meetings. While not a religious man, Ben Franklin rented two pews to show to his guests that he knew important people and to show off to the other founding fathers that he could afford two pews. The priests are believed to have said that they always knew when Ben Franklin was in attendance as they always heard him snore.

The second most historic and untouched building is Carpenter's Hall. More importantly, Carpenter's Hall housed the First Continental Congress in 1774. The men in attendance decided to send a letter to the King asking him to revoke the Intolerable Acts. Instead, he decided to tell the British soldiers in the colonies to seize the colonial weapons and supplies. The patriots got wind of the news and the Battles of Lexington and Concord ensued in April 1775. The men at the Congress had decided to reconvene in May 1775 if the King did not reply to their requests. They did not, however, expect to have to act as the governing body leading a war effort a mere several months after the First Continental Congress.

Even though Ben Franklin's house has been since destroyed, an outline now stands in its place to give visitors an idea of the dimensions and the living conditions.

Speaking of living conditions, it was not uncommon that the household "privy pit" (i.e. toilet) was right next to the water well. Ben Franklin shared a water well with the Read family and yet both of the privy pits were right next to the toilets. It wasn't for a while that the colonies would realize that this proximity was the cause of quite of few of the disease outbreaks that they experienced.

Home to the Second Continental Congress, Independence Hall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. Additionally, it was in Independence Hall that the Declaration of Independence was signed, thus giving it its name. While we openly support the Declaration today, the 57 signatories of the day could have been tried for treason for signing such a document. What's more, even printing the document could have gotten you tried for treason. Consequently, it is very peculiar that Mary Katherine Goddard--the only female owner <i>and</i> operator of a printing house--not only printed the Declaration when all other printing houses had ceased to do so due to threats from the British but also her name and city of operation at the bottom of the document. It is thus said that Mary Katherine Goddard is the 58th unofficial signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
<p>Once the Revolutionary War was won, the soldiers started to demand payment. When the Philadelphia soldiers demanded payment in 1983, Congress ignored them, claiming that it only has control of the army during a war. In times of peace, the state government was responsible for them. The state government in turn held that they were not responsible for payment as they were not the ones to promise payment, the federal government did. In the end, the Mutiny of 1983 ensued. Eighty soldiers left from Lancaster, PA to march on Independence Hall to demand payment. Along the way, they gathered other soldiers who shared their grievances. These soldiers with all of their guns surrounded Independence Hall and demanded payment. Alexander Hamilton managed to persuade the soldiers to let them go home and reconvene on the issue the next day. The delegates did not return, however, and the capital was eventually moved to the then-non-existent Washington, DC, with George Washington's help. The soldiers were eventually paid.</p> — Home to the Second Continental Congress, Independence Hall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. Additionally, it was in Independence Hall that the Declaration of Independence was signed, thus giving it its name. While we openly support the Declaration today, the 57 signatories of the day could have been tried for treason for signing such a document. What's more, even printing the document could have gotten you tried for treason. Consequently, it is very peculiar that Mary Katherine Goddard--the only female owner *and* operator of a printing house--not only printed the Declaration when all other printing houses had ceased to do so due to threats from the British but also her name and city of operation at the bottom of the document. It is thus said that Mary Katherine Goddard is the 58th unofficial signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Once the Revolutionary War was won, the soldiers started to demand payment. When the Philadelphia soldiers demanded payment in 1983, Congress ignored them, claiming that it only has control of the army during a war. In times of peace, the state government was responsible for them. The state government in turn held that they were not responsible for payment as they were not the ones to promise payment, the federal government did. In the end, the Mutiny of 1983 ensued. Eighty soldiers left from Lancaster, PA to march on Independence Hall to demand payment. Along the way, they gathered other soldiers who shared their grievances. These soldiers with all of their guns surrounded Independence Hall and demanded payment. Alexander Hamilton managed to persuade the soldiers to let them go home and reconvene on the issue the next day. The delegates did not return, however, and the capital was eventually moved to the then-non-existent Washington, DC, with George Washington's help. The soldiers were eventually paid.

The Liberty Bell was created in London in 1751. Unfortunately, due to an inexperienced bell ringer, the bell cracked. To save money, the government decided to have local metal workers melt down and recast the bell. Because they were not trained in the craft of bell making, the bell was recast a couple times in order to get the right sound. In the end, they called it a day when it sounded well enough. In 1856 the bell cracked and was filled in with a bolt. Yet, because the crack was very large, the bell quickly cracked even more and became unusable. Now, it is a symbol for liberty: liberty is fragile and something that needs to be maintained and repaired. On the top ring of the bell, a quote from the Bible is inscribed "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10).

While construction workers were digging next to the Liberty Bell Museum to create a garage for the attraction, they found remains of a house. It turned out to be George Washington's house, for the time that he lived in Philadelphia. The house was outlined in a manner similar to Ben Franklin's in order to give an idea of how he lived. One interesting fact is that George Washington, like many of the founding fathers and citizens of the colonies, had slaves. (Their names are indicated on the wall to the left.) Meanwhile, some states passed laws indicating that a slave was free if he or she had worked for six months for the same person. So, to avoid this law, slave owners in those territories would move their slaves back and forth over state lines in order to continually reset the six month time period. Two of Washington's slaves did manage to escape, at least for some time. Hercules managed to escape and become a chef for a wealthy family in London. Unfortunately, that family happened to be friends with George Washington. So, when Washington heard that Hercules was with his friends, he asked for him back. Oney Judge, on the other hand, managed to escape and to avoid bounty hunters on several occasions. She fled north and eventually made it to Canada where she lived out her life in peace.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania may be a very small town but it is full of history. Walking through the old streets, it is almost like you have traveled back in time. Definitely worth the visit!

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