{"id":237405,"date":"2026-07-07T11:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/237405\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T11:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:36:15","slug":"beyond-the-bell-some-lesser-known-philly-history-sites-to-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/237405\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the bell: Some lesser known Philly history sites to visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of visitors have celebrated the 250th anniversary of the nation\u2019s founding by visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other historic locations in Philly that have become major drivers of tourism.<\/p>\n

But those major sites often depicted in both documentaries like Ken Burns\u2019 \u201cThe American Revolution\u201d<\/a> and historically-based films like Nicolas Cage\u2019s \u201cNational Treasure,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Philadelphia is also home to many lesser-known historic sites related to the nation\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a few of those lesser-known spots with lots of historic lore.<\/p>\n

127 Spruce St.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s oldest tavern opened in 1759. It\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one of the earliest printings of the Constitution. There is a very early printing of \u2018Common Sense.\u2019 It\u2019s actually the first British edition printed in 1776 in Britain. The printer removed any material the king would have found offensive,\u201d said Dan Wheeler, owner of the tavern.<\/p>\n

\"\"A Man Full of Trouble historic tavern in Philadelphia is reopened at Second and Spruce streets. (Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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 \u201cAn Unburdened Thread.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a cannon that was reported to be at the siege of Yorktown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wheeler rents the tavern to Succession Fermentory<\/a>, which brews its beer at a farm in Chester County.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s free to visit, but museum hours vary.<\/p>\n

The site is situated on Walnut Street, between 6th and 7th streets. A part of the National Park Service, Washington Square Park was \u201cone of five parks within William Penn\u2019s \u2018Green Countrie Towne,\u2019\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s honor in 1825.<\/p>\n

A bronze statue of Washington stands near an eternal flame honoring the tomb of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"(Google Maps)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soldier originally died and was buried in a mass grave trench within the park during the Revolutionary War,\u201d the NPS site says. \u201cAs 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\u2019s grounds, conducted an archaeological examination, and placed them into the marble sarcophagus beneath the George Washington statue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington Square is operated by the National Park Service under an easement agreement with the city established in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, most people experience Washington Square as a serene urban park. They don\u2019t realize they\u2019re literally walking through a graveyard,\u201d said Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution. \u201cThere is the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, but I don\u2019t experience a lot of people going up and engaging with that monument there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00e6It\u2019s a place where both British and American soldiers \u2014 by the hundreds, and probably thousands \u2014 had their final resting place, in addition to being Philadelphia\u2019s African American burial ground, as well. It\u2019s a really important site of remembrance. I\u2019d love it if more visitors realized that when they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n

313 Pine Street<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also interred at St. Peter\u2019s \u201cchurch yard\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Emma Lee\/WHYY)<\/p>\n

St. Peter\u2019s 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<\/a> in 1996.<\/p>\n

St. Peter\u2019s calls their cemetery a \u201cchurchyard\u201d instead of burial grounds. Most of the inscriptions on headstones have faded over the centuries, except for Peale\u2019s, which has a new monument placed at his grave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith regard to tours of the church or churchyard, the latter can be toured at any time the gates are open, everyday during daylight hours,\u201d said Keith Betten, chair of the church\u2019s history committee. \u201cThere 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 \u2018History Section\u2019 of the church\u2019s website at stpetersphila.org<\/a>. There is no set fee, but donations are used to maintain our historic building and grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original high-backed box pews, including Mayor Samuel Powel\u2019s box which George and Martha Washington often frequented, were designed to retain heat in winter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many members of St. Peter\u2019s held people in slavery. One of those\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[38286,4000,12360,11810,20960,26295,94,555,102234,13272,69,71,70,9880,13275,7803,102235],"class_list":["post-237405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-38286","tag-america-250","tag-american-revolution","tag-cemetery","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-historic-district","tag-history","tag-liberty-bell","tag-man-full-of-trouble-tavern","tag-old-city","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-semiquincentennial","tag-st-peters","tag-tourism","tag-washington-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}