Independence Hall National Historic Site
Visiting Independence Hall NHS | Philadelphia, PA | April 2023
When staying in King of Prussia, we felt that we should at least make one visit to Philadelphia. We knew there was so much to do and see in the city, but since we didn’t want to leave Charlotte at the hotel alone, we were limited on how much walking we could do. We accepted that, and so we made our way downtown on a Monday after the morning traffic had cleared and coughed up the money for the Independence Hall Visitor Center parking garage. While a bit pricey, it had the advantage of putting us right in the heart of the historic sites – no dragging a blind and pokey puppy down city streets.
I ran in to the visitor’s center to get our park stamps and figure out the tours. Since Jess had already been to all the sites and stops – a fact which she has taken every opportunity to rub in – she graciously allowed me the privilege of touring Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell while she and Charlotte meandered in circles in the green spaces outside.
The tour of Independence Hall itself was brief but very informative. It was broken into two parts corresponding to the two rooms of the hall. In the Court Room the docent talked about the building itself, and its origins as the Pennsylvania State House, the rule of law and courts, ultimately getting around to the Declaration of Independence and the reading of the Declaration behind the State House in 1776. The second part was in the Assembly Hall and focused on the Constitutional Convention and the roles each state held, where they sat, etc. The docent was quick to point out that one of only two pieces of authentic furniture was George Washington’s chair – to which he quoted Benjamin Franklin.
It was a very polished presentation – as you would expect of a professional who gives it many times every day – but I am curious if any of the other docents would talk about different topics? It’s only a dollar – so maybe next time we’ll see!
Across the road, I then went through the tour of the Liberty Bell. To be perfectly honest, the Liberty Bell was kind of just a bell with a crack loosely associated with the American ideals of freedom, liberty, and democracy – ideals that were mostly formulated through fables rather than any sort of historicity. But the museum leading up to the Liberty Bell paints a dramatic picture of the bell being used as a rallying cry for those ideals across American History and even internationally – with many pictures and paintings of famous civil rights leaders and international figures with the bell. And so while I still think it’s just a bell with a crack, I do acknowledge that its legendary status, however artificial at first, does have some weight.
Finished with the two major attractions of downtown Philly, we were left with the problem that most everything else we would want to see – the Franklin Institute, the US Mint, and other museums – were inside, and the bridge across the Delaware river into New Jersey was too ambitious for Charlotte. So we wrapped things up and headed home – maybe future work trips to the area we’ll find a way to stay downtown…if we can find an amazing deal that is.
Jess: My time in the city with Charlotte was less educational than Curtis’, but we did still have some memorable moments. We wandered around the green space and played a game of me trying to keep Charlotte away from the pieces of bread someone had thrown around for the birds. She’s pretty tricky for a blind puppy, there’s definitely nothing wrong with her nose! We also had 3 funny encounters with other people. One was a couple passing by, and after they had passed us I overheard one of them say, “Do you think that was an undercover drug sniffing dog?” Then a policeman walking by saw her standing there and asked if she was sleeping. That’s become a sort of regular comment that we get now. The funniest was two guys on a bench that saw us coming, and one said to the other, “Look, it’s a wiener dog!” and the other disagreed, so the first guy yelled to me, “That’s a wiener dog right?” To which I responded no, she’s a basset hound. “Yeah but that’s the same thing as a wiener dog!” he replied. Overall she did really well on our walk, but if she could talk she’d tell you the best part about Philly is the bread.
