INHP runs north into Old City , Philadelphia's earliest
commercial area, above Market Street near the riverfront.
Washington, Franklin and Betsy Ross all worshiped at Christ
Church , on 2nd Street just north of Market Street. Dating from
1727, it is surrounded by the gravestones of signatories to the
Declaration of Independence (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; donation). The
church's official burial ground, two blocks west at 5th and Arch,
includes Benjamin Franklin's grave . At 239 Arch St, the
Betsy Ross House (daily 10am-5pm; donation; tel
215/686-1252), by means of unimpressive wax dummies, salutes the
woman credited with making the first American flag. The story is
probably apocryphal, as it wasn't until the centennial celebrations
in 1876 that a man claiming to be Ross's grandson came forward to
stake her claim. Even if she did live at 239 Arch St, the building
that currently holds that address was not her home; the streets
have been extensively renamed and renumbered since the Revolution.
Inside the house, there's a gift shop and shady garden , an
oasis away from the busy streets outside.
The claim of Elfreth's Alley - a pretty little cobbled
way off 2nd Street between Arch and Race streets - to be the
"oldest street in the United States" is somewhat dubious but it has
been in continuous residential use since 1727, and its thirty
houses, notable for their wrought-iron gates, water pumps, wooden
shutters and attic rooms, date from the eighteenth century. No. 126
is the Mantua Maker's Museum where furniture was made for
Philadelphia's elite in the eighteenth century (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm,
Sun 12pm-4pm; $2; tel 215/574-0560).
The area north of Market Street also holds two excellent
museums: the National Museum of American Jewish History , 55
N 5th St (Mon-Thurs 10am-5pm, Fri 10am-3pm, Sun noon-5pm; $3; tel
215/923-3811), which is dedicated to the experiences of Jews in the
States and includes a synagogue; and the emotive and politically
informed African American Museum in Philadelphia , 7th and
Arch streets (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $6; tel
215/574-0380). The latter tells the stories of the thousands of
blacks who migrated north to Philadelphia after Reconstruction and
in the early twentieth century. As well as lectures, films and
concerts, there are photos, personal memorabilia, poems by black
poet Langston Hughes and a piped-in Billie Holiday soundtrack. The
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site , 532 N 7th St, just
north of Spring Garden Street (daily 9am-5pm; free; tel
215/597-8780), is the only one of Poe's five Philadelphia
residences that survives; it's also where he wrote The Black
Cat in 1843. The stripped-down walls and bare wood floors do
little to evoke Poe's presence - and despite local efforts,
restoration plans have still yet to get under way. However, if
you're a true Poe fanatic, the staff in the small museum
adjacent to the house can answer almost any Poe-related question.
If you're keen on literary pilgrimages, you might also want to
visit the grave of another key figure of American letters, Walt
Whitman ; he's buried in the Harleigh Cemetery, on Haddon
Avenue across the river in Camden, New Jersey.