Although Natalie Pompilio is an award-winning journalist, she’s also a tour guide at heart.

The Queen Village resident of 22 years has a love of both local and national history and she recently released a book called Philadelphia: A Walk Through History to share her unwavering enthusiasm for the significance of the streets she walks every day.

The book also lines up perfectly with the 250th anniversary of signing of the Declaration of Independence and influx of expected tourism that will accompany it.

Pompilio’s new offering presents a guide to see the most significant sites in the city while providing the background for each stop. 

“I love walking tours,” said Pompilio, who was previously on the staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. “I’m the person who walks around the city and reads all the historic markers. I tell my nieces all the time to get off their phone and look at the cool things around. I would have loved to have had this book when I moved here.”

Pompilio’s book isn’t limited to tourists.

Her descriptions and stories go beneath the surface of the well-told tales of the Founding Fathers.

While some tours cover the basics like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, others cover the Founding Mothers, William Penn’s Holy Experiment and the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.

“It’s definitely not just for tourists,” Pompilio said. “Locals will learn a lot. You’ll probably learn a new tidbit on every walk because I did some digging for these stories and they are only the best ones.”

There are eight tours in the book.

Each tour has nine to 12 stops that follow a theme.

Most walks are about a mile long with a few exceptions.

The book contains a map of each tour and walking directions from each stop.

“The furthest one is 2 miles, but most are within a mile,” Pompilio said. “None go north of (Race) Street or west of the Italian Market. So they are all in walkable neighborhoods.

“I had to come up with multiple tours and I decided to theme it historically. And when you do that you also have to limit your range of walking. You can’t have people walking down to Washington Green and then crossing town to the Rocky Steps.”

South Philly is highlighted in several of the tours including the section on African Americans in Colonial History, which covers the William Still House and Underground Railroad Way Station, the Octavius Catto Home and the Institute for Colored Youth. 

A section on immigrants features St. Stanislaus Church, Palumbo’s, the Italian Market and Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Episcopal Church.

The tour exploring the Yellow Fever Epidemic visits Weccacoe Playground/Old Bethel Burying Ground and the House of Industry on Catharine Street.

It’s just a portion of the rich history that Pompilio had to choose from, which includes a heavy dose of the Revolutionary War.

“I tried to make it something that I would want to read,” Pompilio said. “The Founding Fathers didn’t know what would happen next. But when they signed the Declaration of Independence, they didn’t know if they’d die the next day or be arrested for treason.”

Philadelphia: A Walk Through History ($17), published by Reedy Press, can be found on Amazon and in major book stores.

Pompilio is hoping to get her book inside the many great museums in the area that will see an uptick of tourists in 2026.

Either way, she is excited to share her findings with readers of all kinds.

”I loved writing it and telling stories about it,” she said. “Now that I’m doing some presentations, I keep learning other stories that I didn’t know before that I wish I could have gotten in. Maybe there will be a second edition.”

In addition, Pompilio is already working on another project that is a book of 38 maps of Philadelphia and is expected to be released next year. 

It’s been a labor of love for a storyteller who loves her local history.

“I think the best compliment I ever received was from my 11-year-old niece,” Pompilio said with a smile. “She said, ‘History is boring, but I like your stories.’ ”