Philadelphia Story - Part 3: Independence Hall

When we last left off, the First Continental Congress had convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters' Hall in 1774. On the one hand, they had prepared entreaties to the King of England to reduce tensions, while at the same time planned a second meeting the following May should it be needed. In the ensuing period, there was no response from the King, while war was breaking out at the battles of Lexington and Concord in early 1775.

With that backdrop, the Second Continental Congress re-convened in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. It first met again in Carpenters' Hall, but soon moved to the Pennsylvania state house. What we now call Independence Hall, and nearby structures, were originally built to serve as Philadelphia city hall and home to the state of Pennsylvania. The Congress, led by John Hancock, lacked true authority to govern but collectively began to take responsibility for the war and other matters.

On May 10, 1776, they agreed to pass a resolution of independence from England, and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence was underway. Several drafts were reviewed and edited by the Congress, and as we all know, was passed by them on July 4. In this place they also started drafting the first constitution, called the Articles of Confederation. The fact that all this took place at this site made our time there something really special.

Barb in front of Independence Hall (top). The wings left (Congress House) and right (city hall) had other historic uses that will be described in later editions.

Plaques commemorating the Pennsylvania state house and Independence Hall.

This is the main assembly room in the hall, where the Continental Congress met. A few of the pieces were original, but much of it had to be recreated with period pieces.

Original chair at the head table.

Original inkwell used for signing the declaration.

Other views, including the statue of George Washington in front.

Independence Hall at night time.

George Washington, known as the father of our country, was not involved with the Second Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, or the governing of the confederation. He had been named Commander-in-Chief and was out leading the militias in the Revolutionary War. The Congress continued to meet in Philadelphia until September, 1777, when advancing British forces drove them out and occupied the city. This is an important segue to the next post: Valley Forge.

Philadelphia Story - Part 2: Carpenters' Hall

How well do you all remember our American history? It has been a long time - back to high school days - that we have really studied it and have forgotten so much. Too much. Being in Philadelphia was like taking a class in early American history all over again, except that we were walking in the footsteps of our founders. It was exciting, awesome, solemn, surreal all wrapped up in one.

We started out our tour at a place called Carpenters' Hall.

OK Jeopardy fans, here is the final answer: This important event in the founding of our country took place at Carpenters' Hall. (Cue Jeopardy music now ......)

If you asked "What is the first Continental Congress?" then you are correct!

The first Continental Congress convened in 1774 as relations with England were becoming more and more strained. The colonists were getting more upset at increasing English meddling in colonial affairs and ever increasing taxes. Delagates from 12 of the 13 colonies gathered right here, in this building, to choose a course of action. The signs explain more. Click on the picture to read it.

Here is some of the actual furniture from that event.

Here are a few pictures so you can get a feel for the inside of the hall.

Floor tile designs.

I won't say anything so trite as "this is where it all began", but I think it is.

Next up: Independence Hall

Philadelphia Story - Part 1

One of the locations on our "must see" list while we are on the East Coast has been Philadelphia. This city is really the birthplace of our independence, of our nation. We finally struck out for Philly over the weekend of May 7-9. There was so much to see, and so many pictures to take, we won't try to fit them in one blog post. We will spread it out over several posts. Hope you enjoy.

We stayed in a B&B that was really an old Philadelphia row house. It was originally built in 1854 and expanded in 1878, when bathrooms were added. (No - we weren't using the original toilets!) In the pictures below you can see the outside, the inside entryway (taken from the stairs), and our bedroom.

Friday night we wandered around the nearby neighborhoods and ended up in an eclectic area on South Street. The picture on the left shows a little bit of the flavor of the area. Apparently, this was the birth place of Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, who is honored with a building-side mural (r).

We found a corner restaurant with a second floor patio so we could observe the personalities that walked by. We HAD to try an authentic Philly Cheese sandwich!

Saturday morning we started off at the Liberty Bell Visitors Center. Independence Hall was originally built to be the state capitol of Pennsylvania. The bell was ordered to hang in the steeple of the state house. It wasn't called the Liberty Bell until years later.

A crack started forming sometime after the American Revolution and the bell was considered unrepairable sometime in the 1840's. A passage from Leviticus is inscribed into the bell: Proclaim liberty throughout the all the land unto all the inhabitants thereoff."

It was incredible to stand right next to it and see the real thing, as Barb does here with Independence Hall in the background.

That's all for this post. In future posts we will have stories and pictures on Independence Hall, the adjoining buildings that served as meeting places for our Congress, Christ Church, Valley Forge, and more!

Embassy Row and Melrose Place

Massachusetts Ave NW and the surrounding area is home to dozens of foreign embassies. During the month of May, they hold open houses. Some are grand old mansions, some are built specifically for the purpose of being an embassy, some are much more, shall we say, understated.

On May 1, we decided to to go to the open houses to learn a little more about the embassies. We visited the embassies of Columbia, Indonesia, Bahamas, and Korea.

The Colombian Embassy was a large, beautiful structure. The dining room had built-in cabinetry with hand-carved images of Bible heroes.

Original Colombian music entertain us as we toured the building.

The most beautiful was the Indonesian Embassy!

The outside entry (l), and an Indonesian greeter (r).

The grand stairway and the stained-glass skylight.

The dining room, the fireplace and crest, and (surprisingly) a pipe organ.

That weekend, long time friends Don and Marlys Melrose were in DC for a long weekend visit. They were staying with other friends (John & Karen Nicholas), who much like us, up and moved from Western Washington a couple years ago to live and work in the DC area for a few years. We met up with them on Saturday evening for lobster dinner at Clyde's of Georgetown.

John & Karen Nicholas (l), Don & Marlys Melrose (r)

All together at Union Station for an after-dinner walk.

The open house was fun, but meeting the Nicholas' and seeing Don & Marlys again was the highlight of the weekend!

Joyce's visit April 2010

The weekend of April 9th, Dad Z.'s cousin, Joyce Lane, came to visit us from Omaha! She originally came to see the cherry blossoms, but unfortunately, by the time she got here, the blossoms were all gone. We did however still have a wonderful time together and we did our part as tour guides, taking her around the city!

The WWII memorial, the Natl. Mall...

the Library of Congress...

the U.S. Capitol and tour...

The White House...

And St. John's Church across from the White House.

We also saw the 9/11 Memorial, FDR Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Viet Nam Wall, Lincoln Memorial...

And still had energy for several games of dominoes!!

What a great time of catching up on each other's lives and families!! Thank you, Joyce, for coming to see us!!