Philadelphia: A tale of 72 hours, 33 miles and 4 national park sites

When: Memorial Day Weekend 2023

Where: Downtown Philadelphia

What: (to do) Lace up them sneakers and hit the town running cuz there's lots to see.

I've been to Philly before, many times. I've been to all the major tourist sites, drank at the oldest bar, eaten a vegetarian cheesesteak at Reading Market, driven out to Amish country and even ended up on stage (and in a tour bus) with the emo band Dashboard Confessional. So what made this visit different? This time, I had in my hot little hands, a US National Park passport just itching for some stamps. 

I've mentioned before how much I like the National Parks app and its 'parks near me' feature. I like it even more when it gives me four historic sites all within a 30 minute walk from my Rittenhouse Square hotel. 

The first up was the Edgar Allan Poe house. Poe lived in Philly for six years and for exactly one of those (1843-44), he lived in this house. Where was he the other five years? No clue. Is this the best preserved of all the houses? Perhaps, particularly if you are going for a creepy dilapidated feel and don't happen to have a single item owned by the man. Does the display delve into how he moved there because he thought the home's generous sun exposure would help with his wife's tuberculosis but kind of gloss over that said wife was 13 and his first cousin when they married. Mmm hmm. Stop one could have been a total bust but for the one constant in all the parks, the rangers. If there is a more dedicated, enthusiastic and patient bunch of federal employees in the entire system, they remain remarkably well-hidden. This particular ranger was leading hourly readings of Poe's work, staged beneath a giant sculpture of a raven.  How dedicated was this man to the task at hand? He not only explained that the poem El Dorado was meant to be read in the cadence of hoofsteps, he had coconut shells to provide the accompanying sound effects. His reading was by far the best thing about stop #1. And the stamp, let's not forget the stamp. 

The stroll over to stop #2 led me past the oldest continuously inhabited block in the US because of course it did. Everything in downtown Philly has history and an accompanying plaque to point it out. See that ATM? Ben Franklin stopped there to get some cash on his way to the kite store. 

I was actually quite excited about the second stop. Not so much because I had always dreamt of seeing the rooming house where Polish general Thaddeus Kosciuszko resided for a year but more because of its unique distinction within the National Park system. Coming in at .02 acres, it the smallest site run by NPS. For comparison, the largest is Wrangall-St Elias Nat'l Park in Alaska at a whopping 13.2 million acres.

If I'm being honest, I had never heard of Thaddeus K or his military acumen during the revolutionary war. Had it not been for the lure of the stamp, I probably never would have stepped foot into this humble house but this is where the NPS really does excel. Through well-thought out displays, they painted a vivid picture of bright strategist who was gifted at reading topography and using it to his military advantage. He is credited with saving West Point and then taking that revolutionary zeal back to Poland to try to free his country from the Russians. He ultimately failed and returned to the US, moving into this small room where he hosted visits from Thomas Jefferson and Chief Little Turtle. And if that wasn't enough, he was a staunch abolitionist who left his estate to the purpose of freeing as many slaves as possible. 

Continuing on my stamp quest, I headed to what is definitely the most overwhelming of Philly's NPS sites. Independence National Historic Park covers a lot. There's the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall which is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed; Old City Hall, which houses the first Supreme Court, a visitor center/ gift shop the size of a suburban mall, people walking around in period costume. Add to the confusion the fact that some rooms require reservations, others don't. It's a lot, a lot. I didn't attempt to cover it all at once but just kept hitting up different parts whenever I was in the area. Because of its central location and the fact that I spent the entire time walking to and fro- 33 miles in 3 days- this was actually pretty easy to do. 

The Supreme Court

Independence Hall aka The Room Where it Happened

The last NPS site was much simpler to navigate, yet not without its challenges. The Gloria Dei Church is the oldest church in Pennsylvania and one of the oldest in the country. Built between 1698-1700, it is also one of last remaining links to the short lived time that area was known as New Sweden. So what could be difficult about a pretty church with a cemetary in its front yard? The problem is that I was visiting on a Sunday afternoon as a service was taking place. Aside from the requisite concern about the walls bleeding whenever I enter a place of worship, there was a larger issue at hand. I could not find the stinking stamp pad. This church is about 1.5 miles from everything. I had walked there specifically for that stamp and the preacher wasn't pausing for any kind of question and answer session. As he droned on, I was becoming increasingly distraught. Eventually, I decided I would head out to the cemetery and wait him out. Thankfully, the property's caretakers came along and led me back into the church where the stamp was tucked in with hymnals and other religious paraphernalia. 

And there it was. 4 for 4. In between the stamps, there had been plenty of very cool public art...

And even a bar aboard an old ship that made the perfect stop for a celebratory drink.

But the stars of the show had definitely been the National Park service, its app, those rock star rangers and those four new stamps, ink still drying in my passport book.