Friday, September 19, 2014

The Philadelphia Report: History Day, Part II

After leaving the Independence Park area, we walked south to Society Hill.
As the sign says, this area was built in the 18th century, And you might have met some of our founding fathers in this neighborhood.  It was high society then, and it still is, with apartments going for several million. The area has been beautifully restored, not rebuilt.
 Walkways like this ↓ lead to churches.  This was St. Joseph's Way.




Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church.



 Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, home church of George and Martha Washington.




 George's view of the pulpet from his bow pew.
 Extra tall doors allowed Washington to ride his horse right into the church.




 Head House Square features the head house or fire house that is probably the oldest volunteer firehouse in America, built in 1805. It fronts the stalls of the "New Market", a covered colonnade, built in 1745, where food stalls were set up in horse drawn wagons and the shoppers walked down the middle under cover. 




 As the afternoon began to blend into evening, we walked east to the Delaware River and the stretch known as Penn's Landing.  It was because of the port here, of course, that Philadelphia became the great city that it was so early on.

At the end of Spruce Street, a summer fest has been going on, lingering into September. It includes some fun installations. 
 Tired by now, we sat for quite a while here, using our phones to catch up with our people.


The ships here are a floating museum.  the Tan colored ship is a WWI battle ship, the Olympia.



 Across the river we could see the USS New Jersey.


 A monument to Columbus



We didn't find any place we wanted to eat here, so we walked back to the edge of the city and caught a subway train back to our hotel, where we got a light meal at Panera, before calling it a day.
And a good day it was.

6 comments:

  1. Looks like it was a great day! I was gone hiking all day yesterday, wrote a blog post about, went to bed and had no internet or TV this morning. I went off to the coffee shop, they were in the same boat, three miles away. One person said she thought it went all the way to the Canadian border. Reminded me how much I miss my people! :-)

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  2. I did not realize that Philadelphia was such a beautiful city. Your pictures are great! Bet you are missing the grandchildren.

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  3. You had a very full day and saw many interesting things.

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  4. Your travels are an inspiration. There really is so much to see just in our own country.

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  5. So much to see, and I appreciate your photography. I really love the brick streets and the sound your tires make when you drive on them.

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  6. What a clean neat city. Love the abundance of brick.
    I am a huge hammock person, I'd have spent some time there.

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