Franklin Historic Sites

 
Visiting historic sites (on foot or virtually) is an outstanding way to gain an understanding of the past. History comes alive when we step through the doorways of ancient buildings, allowing us to see the spaces of those who once lived and experience the locales of events that once happened. 

Philadelphia has an amazing history and a rich heritage of preserving early American buildings. Over 2,000 18th century buildings stand in the greater Philadelphia area. Dozens of them are open to the public on a regular basis, allowing us to encounter the past.

While the only Franklin home to survive is located in London, many Philadelphia buildings continue to breathe his legacy. Franklin noted in his Autobiography, Philadelphia’s streets influenced his life from the first moment he walked on them on the Sunday morning of October 6, 1723. Even today, teachers and students alike find a vibrant link to the past by following in Franklin’s footsteps. 

The National Park Service manages many of the sites associated with Franklin's life in Philadelphia, including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Carpenters' Hall, and Franklin Court.

Franklin lived on Craven Street, a small lane running from the River Thames to present-day Trafalgar Square, during the critical years leading to the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin was raised in the Calvinist tradition, and had complicated views about religion during his long life.  But his wife Deborah Reed Franklin and daughter Sarah Franklin Bache were members of Christ Church, then a part of the Church of England, now an Episcopal Church.  This magnificent Georgian building survives largely intact from when the Franklins attended. The Franklin family is buried in its Burial Ground, at the corner of Arch and Fifth Streets.  

Benjamin Franklin loved books, reading, and the mental world that it opened to him.  Working with other Philadelphians in 1731, he founded the Library Company, now America's oldest surviving public library.  Today, the LCP is one of America's greatest rare-book libraries, and its outstanding collections include many items Franklin read, owned, or knew including his original scientific equipment.

Franklin was an artisan: a printer who - along with his wife Deborah - kept a shop and sold printed materials and other things his press produced.  Their Philadelphia houses are gone now, but Elfreth's Alley is an outstanding collection of early American buildings where "the middling sort" lived and worked.

When Franklin wanted to learn more about books and science, he turned to James Logan, the Philadelphia Quaker who had come to America as William Penn's secretary and risen to become one of the colony's leaders.  James Logan built his country home outside Philadelphia, and it remained in his family until it became a museum in the early 1900s.  An outstanding collection and amazing building that tells the story of the Logan family, their African American workers, and the growing country around them.

More sites are coming soon!