26 October 2022
Today is our day to explore the Old City. We wanted to take the metro/subway at least once, so I found a bus that goes to the City Hall and we took the metro from there to the Old City. The metro has stainless steel cars so it is somehow noisier than Bart. And the name SEPTA sounds unfortunately rather like sepsis which is unfortunate.
We walked a few blocks to the Philadelphia Mint, something Barney was keenly interested in seeing. They had a terrific history exhibit that tracked major US event, the issuance of coinage, and the admission of states and pre-Revolutionary dates. The self-guided tour took us through the various stages of coin making, and along a long corridor which allowed us to look over the production floor. The machinery was fascinating, as well as the quality control, of course - flawed coins are “waffled” and then the metals recycled. We watched thousands of bright copper pennies and shiny quarters moving swiftly in the conveyor buckets toward the stamper, and at the end, one worker pressing 3” commemorative medals in a giant press. We spent about 2 hours on the 45-minute tour.
As we left the mint, it has clearly rained, though there was only a 20% chance of rain when we left so we decided not to bring our umbrellas. It was now only misting, and we found a nice bench under a tree behind the original Quaker meeting house to eat our lunch, leftovers from the delicious dinner Madeleine left for us on arrival. We walked on to the Liberty Bell center, which was fronted by the archaeological remains of the house that George Washington lived in with this family during his Presidency, when the government was headquartered here before DC. The signage and videos spoke to the enslaved servants he brought with him to Philadelphia, and two who escaped during their time here. In that era, slavery was ubiquitous, even in the North. The exhibits inside showed much of the history of the Liberty Bell, whose crack was first documented in 1846, and never rung since. There was also a Women’s Liberty Bell paid for by a a Philadelphia woman who was advocating for women’s rights, which toured the country. The Liberty Bell itself was a bit mundane … plain with very rough rim as if pieces had been chipped off over time.
Then across the street to Independence Hall. Tickets in hand we got into an earlier tour, and saw the two chambers which were the original state house and state courts of Pennsylvania, and is famous for being the place where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. The chair at the head of the room is the same one from which George Washington presided. We also went to see the “Great Essentials” in the nearby building, where surviving copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Articles of Confederation were displayed. It was interesting to realize that the Articles essentially created 13 small sovereign units with no central government, so after a dozen years, the former colonies were in chaos, thus the need for the Constitution, an entirely new document. I think this puts to rest the idea of States’ rights being a good thing. It did not work then, and it does not work now, witness the ridiculous and dangerous situation of every state deciding about a woman’s right to choose health care, creating a patchwork of laws all over the place. After this, we went to the old Congress Hall, and saw the original chambers for the House and Senate, again with the original chair of the presiders.
A walk through some nearby gardens was nice, except for running into nasty-smelling male ginkgo tree stuff which really does smell like vomit, surprising that these are planted in such nice gardens. A few roses were still blooming in the rose garden … amazing that these green spaces are still around in such a dense area. Then back to the metro, a quick stop at Whole Foods for some breakfast items, and back to the Airbnb.
We headed over to Madeleine’s apartment, and off to a restaurant called Elwood, for a Ciderweek dinner. Madeleine likes cider so this was going to be fun. It was a small place, and the makers of the ciders were there pouring, so enthusiastically explaining about the various varieties of apples, and how there have been 200+ years of apple cultivation in Pennsylvania. The area they are from is Adam’s County, they called it the “Sonoma of Pennsylvania apples.” The multi-course dinner was delicious, with the brown-butter trout on squash purée being a standout. Each diner received a special cider glass (we left these for Madeleine) and a jar of their apple butter - we left two of these for Madeleine and will take one to Susanne and Bruce.
