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Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of visitors have celebrated the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding by visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other historic locations in Philly that have become major drivers of tourism.
But those major sites often depicted in both documentaries like Ken Burns’ “The American Revolution” and historically-based films like Nicolas Cage’s “National Treasure,” Philadelphia is also home to many lesser-known historic sites related to the nation’s founding.
Here’s a few of those lesser-known spots with lots of historic lore.
Man Full of Trouble Tavern
127 Spruce St.
Philadelphia’s oldest tavern opened in 1759. It’s been restored, but the original wooden floor on the second remains. The first floor is a 25-seat tasting room and bar featuring Pennsylvania brews, while upstairs is a museum featuring artifacts from the Revolutionary War and an art exhibit.
“There is one of the earliest printings of the Constitution. There is a very early printing of ‘Common Sense.’ It’s actually the first British edition printed in 1776 in Britain. The printer removed any material the king would have found offensive,” said Dan Wheeler, owner of the tavern.
The three rooms upstairs focus on different aspects of city history. The first is an exhibit of the historic artifacts. The second centers on the tavern and the history of the surrounding neighborhood with photographs, renderings, items from the tavern’s early days, and things that used to be in the neighborhood before it was torn down, said Wheeler. The third is an immersive art installation by Tim Portlock titled “An Unburdened Thread.”
“I have several muskets that were probably made right next door by a gunsmith at Second and Spruce who was supplying muskets during the Revolution. They have his name on them,” he said. “There’s a cannon that was reported to be at the siege of Yorktown.
Wheeler rents the tavern to Succession Fermentory, which brews its beer at a farm in Chester County.
It’s free to visit, but museum hours vary.
Washington Square Park
- 210 W. Washington Square
The site is situated on Walnut Street, between 6th and 7th streets. A part of the National Park Service, Washington Square Park was “one of five parks within William Penn’s ‘Green Countrie Towne,’” according to NPS. Originally known as Southeast Square, by the 1700s, it had become a burial ground for poor residents. American and British soldiers were buried there when the Redcoats occupied the city in 1777-78.
The square was also enjoyed by the living, including both free and enslaved Black residents who socialized at the park. Eventually, the city landscaped the square as a public park, and it was renamed in Washington’s honor in 1825.
A bronze statue of Washington stands near an eternal flame honoring the tomb of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier.
“The soldier originally died and was buried in a mass grave trench within the park during the Revolutionary War,” the NPS site says. “As part of a park redesign conceived in 1954, a team of archaeologists excavated the square in 1956 to find a soldier for the proposed monument. They disinterred the remains of an unidentified soldier from the park’s grounds, conducted an archaeological examination, and placed them into the marble sarcophagus beneath the George Washington statue.”
Washington Square is operated by the National Park Service under an easement agreement with the city established in 2005.
“Today, most people experience Washington Square as a serene urban park. They don’t realize they’re literally walking through a graveyard,” said Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution. “There is the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, but I don’t experience a lot of people going up and engaging with that monument there.”
æIt’s a place where both British and American soldiers — by the hundreds, and probably thousands — had their final resting place, in addition to being Philadelphia’s African American burial ground, as well. It’s a really important site of remembrance. I’d love it if more visitors realized that when they’re there.”
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Cemetery
313 Pine Street
The cemetery is the burial place of artist Charles Willson (yes, two Ls) Peale, who painted virtually every signer of the Declaration of Independence. Peale served as an officer of the 2nd Philadelphia Associators, which saw action at the Battles of Trenton, Princeton and Germantown.
Also interred at St. Peter’s “church yard” are Rev. Robert Blackwell, who was commissioned by General Anthony Wayne as a chaplain at Valley Forge; Lt. Col. John Dixon, who delivered the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776 at the Pennsylvania Statehouse, now Independence Hall; and Capt. Sharp Delaney who saw action at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown. In 1786, he developed a fleet that would become the U.S. Coast Guard.
St. Peter’s opened for services in 1761 and was united with Christ Church until 1832. William White, rector of both churches from 1779 until his death in 1836, was chaplain to the U.S. Congress during the American Revolution, founder of the Episcopal Church in 1784, and the first bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.
St. Peter’s calls their cemetery a “churchyard” instead of burial grounds. Most of the inscriptions on headstones have faded over the centuries, except for Peale’s, which has a new monument placed at his grave.
“With regard to tours of the church or churchyard, the latter can be toured at any time the gates are open, everyday during daylight hours,” said Keith Betten, chair of the church’s history committee. “There is an audio tour which corresponds with a stationary map, found near the Pine Street entrance. Personal guided tours of both the church and churchyard may be arranged by accessing the ‘History Section’ of the church’s website at stpetersphila.org. There is no set fee, but donations are used to maintain our historic building and grounds.”
“The original high-backed box pews, including Mayor Samuel Powel’s box which George and Martha Washington often frequented, were designed to retain heat in winter,” he said.
Many members of St. Peter’s held people in slavery. One of those enslaved, Absalom Jones, eventually became a highly respected leader in Philadelphia and founded the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in 1792, which was the first black Episcopal Church in the United States.
