A Day of Revolutionary History: Must-See National Park Sites in Philadelphia

During our 10 day stay in southeastern Pennsylvania (more on the whole trip here), we spent a Sunday exploring Philadelphia. I (Jen) have been here before for a long weekend as a teenager, but it was all new for Josh. Since we only had one day in the city, we focused on the big highlights and American history. We visited the Independence Mall area and spent the day walking around and exploring National Park sites and other museums in the area.

Parking in Philadelphia

I thought I was well-prepared going into Philly, since I had researched parking garages. There’s one right under the Independence Visitor Center (Autopark at Independence Mall) and a back-up one a few blocks away (Autopark at Olde City). What I forgot to check, though, was the clearance for the garages and we realized once we got there that our truck is too tall. So I had to quickly google while Josh was driving to find open lots. Luckily, I found a forum where someone with a van asked for parking recommendations and that helped me find an open lot that wasn’t too far from Independence Hall. We ended up parking in the 8th & Market lot, so if you also have a high clearance vehicle we’d recommend this. You set up an account on your phone and link your license plate and then they’ll bill you automatically when you leave.

Stop 1: Independence Visitor Center

We started our adventure at the Independence Visitor Center to check out the exhibit space there, get passport stamps, and pick up some brochures & maps. The Visitor Center is also shared by local tourism agencies, so there’s lots of information on things to do in Philadelphia beyond the National Park sites. The Visitor Center is open every day from 9am-6pm.

Stop 2: Arch Street Meeting House

Philadelphia is laid out on a grid, which makes walking around this area super easy. The main things we wanted to see made a circle basically, so we just started walking and looked out for other interesting sites along the way.

The first place we ended up stopping was the Arch Street Meeting House. This Quaker meeting house was built 1803-1804 and is still an active congregation. The land itself was deeded as burial ground back in 1701 by William Penn. Today, you can visit inside as a museum on Wednesdays-Sundays 10am-4pm, but we just explored the grounds. There are thousands of burials here, but only 4 headstones. At one point the Quakers changed their minds on how/if graves should be marked, which was really interesting to read about.

Stop 3: Benjamin Franklin’s Grave

Next, we came across Benjamin Franklin’s grave. Luckily, his grave is right beside the road, because it cost $5 to just go inside Christ Church Burial Ground. We’re big cemetery fans, but we didn’t think it was worth paying that much to visit.

Stop 4: Betsy Ross House

Another paid historic site in Philadelphia is the Betsy Ross house. We paid $10 each to go through the house, which is set up for a self-guided tour. It’s a bit overpriced for the size of the museum, but our cat is named Betsey partially after Ross so we had to go. The house partially tells the story of Betsy and partially talks about life in her time in general. From March-November the museum is open every day from 10am-5pm and in December-February it’s open Wednesday-Monday 10am-4:30pm.

In the courtyard of the house is also Betsy’s grave, which was moved here after she was originally buried in a couple different other cemeteries.

Stop 5: Franklin Court, Benjamin Franklin Museum, and Franklin Printing Office

All of the NPS Benjamin Franklin sites are near each other in Franklin Court. The house Franklin lived in isn’t standing anymore, but they have a ghost structure of the house to show where it once was. There are also a few viewing windows that show the archeological remains of the house. 

Franklin Court is home to the Benjamin Franklin Museum, which cost us $5 each to visit and is open every day 9am-5pm. It was interesting, but not our favorite museum. The museum has a lot of digital media and videos, but you can hear most of them at the same time and it is very overwhelming and annoying. The videos themselves are a weird style, I get what they were going for, but it felt South Park-y. It was still worth a visit, but don’t have high expectations.

Another part of Franklin Court is the Franklin Court Printing Office.We were able to catch a demonstration by one of the park rangers on the printing presses, and bought some souvenir sayings that were printed here. The printing office is open Fridays-Sundays 10am-5pm and the last demo is at 4:30. It’s definitely worth trying to catch a demo if you can!

Stop 6: Carpenters Hall

We briefly ducked into Carpenters Hall, which was the meeting place of the Carpenters’ Company and is a beautiful Georgian mansion. They have a few small exhibits, besides checking out the building itself and is always free. On our day in Philly, there was a performance going on so we didn’t get to really check out much there.

Stop 7: Independence Hall, Great Essentials Exhibit, Old City Hall

Our next stop was going through security to enter Independence Square. Behind the security entrance is Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Old City Hall, and the Great Essentials exhibit in the West Wing. Independence Hall usually is open without tickets from 9-10:30am and then from 10:40am-4:20pm you need a ticket to enter, but the day we visited it opened late so we missed the non-ticket time and didn’t end up actually getting inside. But at least it was neat to see from outside.

We visited the Great Essentials exhibit in the West Wing which featured famous American documents. There are original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. They rotate versions of some of the documents for conservation reasons, but there is always something good on display. There are also a few other less exciting documents on display that rotate too. Another exciting item here is the Syng inkstand which was used for signing the original Declaration of Independence.

Congress Hall was used for Congress meetings from 1790-1800 while Philadelphia was the temporary capital. You don’t need tickets to enter, but you do have to do one of the guided tours that start every 20 minutes. We just missed one and decided not to wait for the next.

We also visited Old City Hall which was used by the Supreme Court and is set up as a typical 18th century courtroom. This space is open 9am-5pm and no tickets are needed.

Stop 8: American Philosophical Society Museum

We exited Independence Square through the American Philosophical Society Museum (it’s very well marked that you cannot re-enter the Square if you go into the museum, so save it for the end). The APS was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 “for the purpose of promoting useful knowledge.” It’s free and open Thursdays-Sundays 10am-5pm during their open season (April 12-December 29).

The current exhibit was called Sketching Splendor: American Natural History, 1750-1850. The exhibit featured sketches and drawings from early American naturalists and was right up our alley.

Stop 9: Liberty Bell

After a quick lunch stop, we headed through another security point to enter the Liberty Bell Center. You don’t need tickets to see the Liberty Bell and it’s open daily 9am-5pm. After security, there are some exhibits and interpretive panels about the history of the bell, and then we got to the bell itself. I saw the Liberty Bell when I was in high school and visited Philly for a Croatian festival, but this is Josh’s first time. It’s such an American icon that you can’t skip it if you’re in Philly.

Historic Sites & Museums in Philadelphia We Missed or Skipped

There is soooo much more to do and see in Philadelphia and we only had one day in the city so we had to prioritize. Even within the Independence Mall area there are more history related sights and museums. Here are more activates within walking distance of Independence Mall that we missed or skipped:

• African American Museum (we didn’t have time to visit)
  • Open Thursday-Sunday 10am-5pm
  • $14 for adults
• National Constitution Center (we didn’t think the admission fee was worth it for us personally)
  • Open Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm
  • $19 for adults
• Museum of the American Revolution (too pricey for us)
  • Open daily 10am-5pm
  • $25 for adults
• Science History Institute Museum (we would have gone if it was open)
  • Open Wednesday-Saturday 10am-5pm
  • Free
• Weirzman National Museum of American Jewish History (we didn’t have enough time)
  • Open Friday-Sunday 10am-5pm
  • Free
• Declaration House (we walked past it, but it’s currently closed)

There are also a few other National Park Service sites in Philadelphia. I reeeeeally wanted to go to the Poe one, but it was closed for renovations which was super sad. The other two we just didn’t have time for and they weren’t in easy walking distance.

• Gloria Dei Church National Historic Site
• Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
• Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site

Philadelphia Reading Lists

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