I was fortunate to be chosen as a Franklin Institute On-Line Fellow in June of 1998.  I was one of nine teachers across North America who were chosen to participate in this project.  The Franklin Institute flew all nine of us back to Philadelphia for four days in August of 1998 to meet and discuss what the project was all about.  Most of the time was taken up in either meeting or eating.  Let me tell you, Philadelphia food is great!  We did get a day of sightseeing on our next to last day there and these are some of the sites of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia has a nice sightseeing bus service in the town with which we connected.  The bus took us all around the "touristy" parts of town.  We got to see the Museum of Art (made famous in the movie "Rocky" as the place where Sylvester Stallone runs up the museum steps), the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, city hall with its statue of William Penn on top and of course the Liberty Bell.  The National Park Service has done a good job of promoting and housing the Liberty Bell in an air conditioned room with glass panels that frame the Pennsylvania State House - known to most as Independence Hall.  I was surprised to find that there is no definite date for when the bell cracked the first time.  Having never really read up on the subjects, I always assumed that the words "Pass and Stow" on the front of the bell had some historical reference in colonial times to liberty but found out they were the makers of the bell.
We walked around the plaza taking our pictures and then the group split up to go their separate ways depending upon their interests.  Two of us decided we wanted to see Ben Franklin's grave, so that's where we headed.  The cemetery where he's buried is very interesting.  High brick walls all around with a couple of small openings gave the impression that the place was deserted, which it was.  We walked around the corner and there's a big hole in the fence, or rather a large opening of wrought ironwork and right next to the sidewalk is Ben Franklin's grave.  People are standing on the street outside the fence throwing pennies on his tombstone.  I thought this is really weird until I found out later it is considered good luck to throw a penny or two on Franklin's grave.  "A penny saved is a penny earned."  Sounds backward to me if you're throwing pennies away, but if I get there again, I'll throw a penny.
Across the street is the Philadelphia Mint.  We walked in and took the tour.  Security was high because this was the day after the terrorist bombings in Africa but we didn't have any problems.  Note to anyone interested in taking the tour - go on a weekday.  They don't do any minting on Saturday, so the presses weren't running.  It would have been more interesting to see the presses running.  I stopped by the gift shop to see if I could get a proof set from the years my children were born, but was told they only sell the current year's proof sets.  I guess I'll have to go to a coin shop if I really want to do this for them.
Next we walked down the street a couple of blocks to Betsy Ross's house and took a short tour of that as well.  I wish more of my pictures had come out from this trip, but the camera was acting up again and I feel fortunate to have the pictures that I do.  Hopefully, we'll be given some time in February when we go back for some more sightseeing.  Philadelphia in winter should be pretty.  I have never been in a big city in the middle of winter.
Anyway, after we went through the Betsy Ross house, we decided to head on back, walking the few blocks to the National Park visitor center to pick up some souvenirs, books, and stuff for the kids at home.  We took the trolley tour back to our hotel and took a nap.  It was a long afternoon.  That evening was the last for us so we headed to the Italian market section of Philly and had authentic Italian food.  What a way to end a weekend.
I'm looking forward to my return trip to Philadelphia as it should be just as exciting as the first.  Any comments about this page can be directed to me through my guestbook.

Next national park site.

Back to the National Park Page.