New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania - Eastern USA - page 249

( 215-409-6700; www.constitutioncenter.org ; 525 Arch St; adult/child $14.50/8;
9:30am-5pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat, noon-5pm Sun; ) This highly recommended museum
makes the United States Constitution sexy and interesting for a general audience through
theater-in-the-round reenactments. There are exhibits such as interactive voting booths
and Signer's Hall, which contains lifelike bronze statues of the signers in action.
Independence Hall HISTORIC BUILDING
MAP GOOGLE MAP
( 215-597-8974; Chestnut St, btwn 5th & 6th Sts) Independence Hall is the 'birthplace of
American government,' where delegates from the 13 colonies met to approve the Declar-
ation of Independence on July 4, 1776. An excellent example of Georgian architecture, it
sports understated lines that reveal Philadelphia's Quaker heritage.
Other Attractions HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Other attractions in this historic park include Carpenters' Hall , owned by the Carpenter
Company, the USA's oldest trade guild (1724), which is the site of the First Continental
Congress in 1774; Library Hall MAP GOOGLE MAP () , where you'll find a copy of the
Declaration of Independence, handwritten in a letter by Thomas Jefferson, plus first edi-
tions of Darwin's On the Origin of the Species and Lewis and Clark's field notes; Con-
gress Hall MAP GOOGLE MAP (S 6th & Chestnut Sts) , the meeting place for US Con-
gress when Philly was the nation's capital; and Old City Hall MAP GOOGLE MAP () ,
finished in 1791, which was home to the US Supreme Court until 1800. The Franklin
Court MAP GOOGLE MAP complex, a row of restored tenements, pays tribute to Ben-
jamin Franklin with a clever underground museum displaying his inventions, and details
his many other contributions (as statesman, author and journalist) to society. Christ
Church MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 215-627-2750; N 2nd St) , completed in 1744, is where
George Washington and Franklin worshipped.
Philosophical Hall MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 215-440-3400; 104 S 5th St; admission $1;
10am-4pm Thu-Sun Mar-Labor Day & Fri-Sun Labor Day-Feb) , south of Old City Hall, is the
headquarters of the American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743 by Benjamin
Franklin. Past members have included Thomas Jefferson, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison,
Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.
Second Bank of the US MAP GOOGLE MAP (Chestnut St, btwn 4th & 5th Sts) ,
modeled after the Greek Parthenon, is an 1824 marble-faced Greek Revival masterpiece
that was home to the world's most powerful financial institution until President Andrew
Jackson dissolved its charter in 1836. The building then became the Philadelphia Cus-