Everything but a Philly Cheesesteak!

We have just spent two beautiful days in Philadelphia exploring what they call “the most historic square mile in America!”. The weather has cooperated perfectly. After a rainy Thanksgiving, the sun came out and we had blue sky. Saturday was really crowded (lots of families with bored children), but everyone was driving home on Sunday so it was quiet. Philadelphia played a huge part during the colonial era. After the Boston Tea Party in 1774, the British passed the Intolerable Acts and closed Boston harbor. The colonies all sent representatives to Philadelphia to plan a response…that was the First Continental Congress. This takes place in Carpenters' Hall. Then…shots are fired at Lexington and Concord Bridge in Massachusetts. The Second Continental Congress convenes, still in Philadelphia, this time in their State House (now Independence Hall) in 1775. They appoint George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental Army. While they are debating, the first big battle of the Revolution takes place at Bunker Hill in Boston. In 1776 the delegates sever all ties with Great Britain and sign the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. In 1777, the British are still pushing the Colonials west and British General HOWE and his troops occupy Philadelphia. Good ol’ Ben Franklin is over in France though, talking King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette into helping us defeat the British. The French send troops and supplies to help and it really turns the war around. There is still lots more fighting, but in 1783 the US and the Brits sign the Treaty of Paris to end the American Revolutionary War. It takes a while to figure out how to set up the new government, but in 1787, the delegates finish framing and finally sign the Constitution…in Independence Hall again! They had to figure out things like representation for the states, the House of Representatives with proportional representation and the Senate with each state represented equally. Philadelphia is the nation’s official capital from 1790-1800, while they build the new capital in Washington D.C.
We took all the tours and wandered in and out of all the historic buildings. All have been preserved amazingly well. Independence Hall is fully restored to look just as it did-- the right color paint and everything. The actual chair that George Washington sat in to sign the Constitution is there. It has a half-sun on the back – they call it the Rising Sun chair. Ben Franklin gave a speech the day they signed the Constitution—something about never knowing whether the sun was rising or setting…but with the signing he was sure it was a symbol of the sun rising over a new nation (or something like that!). The inkstand they used for signing the Declaration of Independence is also there. We saw it all, Old City Hall (where the first Supreme Court met-lots of pictures for Jennifer!), Carpenters’ Hall, The First Bank of the US, the Portrait Gallery, Congress Hall, the Liberty Bell Pavilion, all the churches, and Washington Square. The only thing we didn’t see was a decent place to eat a Philly Cheesesteak. One of my favorite stops was lunch at the City Tavern. It isn’t original like all the other buildings, but has been rebuilt to look exactly as it did in the 1770’s when the delegates met there to eat, drink, and argue. The staff is all in costume and the food is all authentic to the period. Martha Washington’s chicken pot pie, yummy! Sounds corny, but it wasn’t. Oh, almost forgot—the Liberty Bell. Yes, we saw it and took a zillion pictures like everyone else. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Lots of history/lore about the bell that I didn’t really get into. Cool to see it though.