The dash to Philadelphia

We departed Braselton on July 4th, after I had participated in the Peachtree Road Race. Starting in Corral J, I was able to see the winner on the big screen 30 minutes BEFORE we started!  It was hot and humid at race time and you really felt it when the shade became scarce.

We drove about 550 miles the first day, mostly in a driving rain, starting after the run and winding up somewhere in Virginia.  The next day we arrived at Clarksboro, NJ. After setting up, we immediately looked for a nearby grocery store.  We drove in circles for about 20 miles, only finding a grocery distribution center.  Returning to our motor home, we drove right past a grocery store, less than two miles from camp!

In the morning we drove into Philadelphia to visit the Independence National Historic Park.  It was raining most of the day but, if we were to see anything we knew we were going to get wet.  First item on the agenda was to procure tickets to Independence Hall. The tickets were n/c but necessary to gain a timed entrance slot and usually “sell out” early in the day.

Philadelphia was the headquarters of the Colonies before, during and after the Revolutionary War and became the official United States capital.  Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in Carpenter’s Hall, before the Declaration and the resulting war, then the Second Continental Congress in Independence Hall, which was responsible for the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence.  At the end of the war it hosted the Constitutional Congress where the US Constitution was drafted and signed. Once ratified by the colonies, and George Washington became President, the Residence Act made Philadelphia the temporary official capital of the United States for a period of ten years, starting in 1790.  George Washington moved his office from New York City to Philadelphia and resided there during his presidency,  John Adams spent the first year of his presidency there before moving to the new US Capital complex, literally built in a swamp, alongside the Potomac River, to be named Washington DC.

Cathy got into a short conversion with a crackhead who was challenging a horse-drawn carriage in the cross walk.  She was about to get horse stomped but finally relented and let the horse pass first.  Could have been a scene!

While waiting to enter Independence Hall, we had this view…

Note: Independence Hall was not called that for about 50 years after the revolution. Story has it that General Lafayette visited Philadelphia after the war and asked to see the “Independence Hall” where American independence was forged and the name stuck.

Displayed in the hall are paintings of King Louis XVI  and his wife, Marie Antoinette, who provided support for our revolution…

Unfortunately, neither lived very long after the war…they had their own “Revolution” brewing.

Inside Independence Hall is the Senate Chamber (on the second floor)…

The Congressional Chamber (on the first floor) more crowded and a little less luxurious, but sporting a dry bar in the back room…

The court dominated the first floor, directly in the center of the building.  The court was arranged with three judges seated behind the long desk, councillors (both for and against) were seated together at the round table directly below the judges, and the accused would be held in the caged area, center court,  in the foreground.

Kind of weird, but this caught my eye; it is the actual inkwell that the signers of the Declaration dipped their pens into while signing the document:

After leaving Constitution Hall, we walked to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War.  Actually, there were several thousand soldiers buried in Washington Square, surrounding the monument.

Next, we walked over the Christ Church, the burial-place of Benjamin Franklin and several other signers of the Declaration.  This in Ben Franklin’s final resting place, done to his exact specifications.  It apparently common to cast pennies on the granite slab marking Ben’s grave.

This is an epitaph that he drew up when he was a little younger, but he decided not to use…

A couple of gravesites of other original signers, Benjamin Rush and Francis Hopkinson (the table)…

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Christ Church was founded in 1695 by members of the Church of England.  This is the church in which William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania was baptized and counted George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Betsy Ross and 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence as members. The original baptismal font is still in use today. At one time it’s 195 foot steeple was the tallest structure in North America.  The slabs in the floor are grave markers, some holding members of the Penn family. The original pipe organ, purchased by Benjamin Franklin was being repaired while we visited, as the pipes were rusting from the inside.  It will be made operational again soon, boy, I don’t think they make them like that anymore. . .

Cathy sitting in Ben Franklin’s private seat.

Of course, I HAD to sit in George Washington’s seat . . .

A candle chandelier, originally purchased by Benjamin Franklin for his daughter’s wedding.  It is still lit for special occasions

The garden in the side yard at the church.  Several members are buried here:

Next we walked to the Betsy Ross home. It was just a touch too commercial for us, we were surprised it didn’t have a carnival barker…

but

but, we did visit her gravesite…

Found this cool statue on the was to the Ross house…

We intended to visit the National Museum of American Jewish History, but it was much larger than anticipated and would have taken more than three hours to go through, so we elected to keep that on the agenda for our next visit. The Liberty Bell will also be on the “next visit” agenda as we were unwilling to wait in a block long line, in the rain this time.