Clarksboro, NJ - Independence

And, why are we back in Philadelphia? Good question - and I wish I had a good answer. The plain truth is that I was reviewing my old blogs and realized that I had not ever published this one. So, now that it is September and we are in Altoona, IA doing boring things like errands and RV and Jeep maintenance, I thought I'd put this in for you to read.

You can’t visit Philadelphia without visiting Independence Hall. In fact, judging by the number of people we saw on our trip into the city, that is probably the primary reason that most people visit the area. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell along with Franklin Court are our goals today. We drove into town today at the advice of our campground. For $18 you can park right under the Visitor Center and start your visit right away.

However, first things first. Our first stop was at Bielers Bakery in the Reading Terminal Station. Bielers is one of about 100 different booths in a foodie mecca in the heart of the city. Office workers, tourists and people who live in Philadelphia all meet here for breakfast, brunch, snack, lunch, take-home - you name it, we’re all here. We read about Bielers on Yelp and thought our day would be better after a stop here. Not knowing the Philadelphia ropes, I had actually packed sandwiches for lunch. I’ve learned the ropes - next time, we’ll eat lunch here.

But the donuts were pretty special. We actually got to see some blueberry fritter dough being made. Here hands are blurred as she moves fast to knead the dough.

But the donut case is a picture of delight. How many different kinds of donuts are there? What kind do you want? By the way, there was a line at least 5 people long every time we saw this place.

Well, I wanted a warm blueberry fritter and, for good measure a warm plain glazed donut. Gary chose a cold crumb cake. Good but, it’s all in the warmth and next time he’ll get a blueberry fritter. (And, yes, I gave him half of mine. Remember, I had the warm glazed donut too and also shared that with him. I can only order 2 donuts if he eats half.)

We also stopped in to see the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall. The line was long but it went fast. Before you actually got to the Bell, there were lots of posters of information about it. We were impressed with this picture of 25,000 soldiers and officers from WWI.

But the bell it self is pretty impressive.

So, how did it get it iconic crack? Well, it arrived in America in 1752 but when the bell was mounted on a stand to test the sound, the rim cracked at the first strike of the clapper. It was repaired several times but the crack grew and the bell never really sounded like a bell - more like a thud. So, it became iconic with the crack.

We also visited the Assembly Room of the Philadelphia State House where the delegates voted on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This is not my picture since there were too many people in our group to get a good picture, I took it from the National Park Website. By the way, those green cloths - not for decoration - but for warmth. There was no fireplace in this room, and in the winter, it got cold. They draped those cloths over their legs - you know they didn’t have long pants and wool hiking socks.

The story is that Franklin stood at the end of the voting on the Constitution and, pointing out the sun on the back of the chair where Washington sat as the presiding officer, said that he had long thought about whether it was a rising or a setting sun. Given what the delegates had just done, he knew it was a rising sun.

We also visited what used to be George Washington’s Presidential house in Philadelphia. Here is what it looked like when he was in it.

They actually excavated the house and have made a partial reconstruction of it and have turned it into an exhibit. It is called: President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation and it explores the paradox of slavery and freedom at the nation’s first executive mansion, in which Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived during their terms and where nine enslaved people served the first president. (Adams had no slaves.) In one of our nation’s great paradoxes, President George Washington brought at least nine enslaved Africans from his Mount Vernon home to live and work in the President’s House, which stood just one block from Independence Hall.
The exhibit has pictures of several of these slaves and on TV screens each has a moment to tell about themselves. A very moving, thought-provoking part of the Independence Hall area.

Very moving.

Next a visit to the Philadelphia mint which makes most of the coinage in America. Denver also makes some but the lion’s share comes from Philly. The first coins were made by hand and it took the mint 3 years to produce the first million coins. That would take 30 minutes today. Pretty fast. No wonder I couldn’t see what was going on - it was a blur. The tour is self-guided and you walk by windows that look down on the production floor. Here are huge rolls of metal (if unrolled - 5 football fields long) waiting to be made into coins in even larger machines. If a coin falls on the floor - does an employee get to keep it to use at the casino? Is it put into a hopper for the next tourist to swing by? Are you kidding? Absolutely not. It is recycled.

Off to Franklin Court but first a stop at Christ Church Cemetery where Franklin and his wife Deborah are buried along with other Declaration of Independence signers. Cool cemetery, very old. Check out the pennies thrown on his stone. Oh, yeah, some dimes and nickels too.

I was especially intrigued by the last occupation this guy had. Safecracker? And, his family put it on his stone?

The original house and other buildings that Franklin built as apartments have all gone now but the NPS has rebuilt them and has a printing press in one of the buildings where they will demonstrate how Franklin made his living. Pretty good demonstration about how time consuming and high maintenance printing was then when you had to find each little piece of type, set it, ink the press, run a single page through and then hang it to dry. No wonder, each piece was so expensive and not many people had access to printed goods.

Actually, Franklin made his living with his printing but he made his fortune with his witticisms and publishing of Poor Richard’s Almanac. He did so well that he was able to retire at the age of 42 and spend time with his other interests like electricity, politics and statesmanship.

The Franklin Museum had lots of information about him but it was geared towards a visual generation, lots of cute cartoons, games and things to touch and move - all designed to make Franklin pertinent and reachable to a new generation. Here’s the kind presentation of the fact that Franklin used a kite to ‘swim’ across a lake:

On the other hand, Franklin might not have been so smart: in the patio behind the homes that Franklin had built were these two holes: one for his water well and and the other for his privy pit. Pretty close together.

Since we had walked a lot in town today, we didn’t have to take our usual walk when we got back to the RV. However, we have been taking walks around the area and found a very nice townhome development with friendly people. One couple even stayed in the campground before they bought their home here. But every driveway had a 2x4 at the bottom to even out the huge drop between the driveway and the street. Gary kept theorizing that they were going to put another layer on the road sometime but these boards have been here for a while. You tell me.