I grew up in New Jersey and I remember taking the train to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell with my Boy Scout troop. That trip was several decades ago, and while we’ve traveled a lot since then, I’ve never had a chance to discover Philadelphia as an adult.
I had a single afternoon to see some sights, so after a quick trip to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, I headed back to the one place I remembered the most. Independence Hall.
I embarrassingly did no research before showing up and was using the in-flight Wi-Fi to learn the rules of visiting Independence National Historical Park.
The National Park System has many ways to categorize locations. Their description of a National Historical Park is an area of a greater physical extent and complexity than national historic sites.
Independence National Historical Park includes several buildings in Philadelphia including:
- Independence Visitor Center
- Independence Square buildings
- Liberty Bell Center
- Declaration House (where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence)
- New Hall Military Museum
- Germantown White House
- City Tavern
- President’s House Site
I parked at the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s AutoPark at Independence Mall, an underground garage located directly below the Independence Visitor Center.
Located a block away from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, the Independence Visitor Center is where you can learn more about the park. When I visited there were people in period costumes talking to guests about what it was like to live during the Revolutionary War.
This is also where I found the helpful National Park Service employees who provided me with a same-day ticket to visit Independence Hall. I was fortunate to visit on a Friday afternoon in December when there are not many guests. If you plan on visiting during the weekend or during the summer, you can make a reservation at Recreation.gov. There is a $1 per ticket handling fee. Tickets are required from March thru December. No tickets are required in January and February except on holiday weekends
I had my ticket. All I needed to do was walk down the street.
Entrance to Independence Hall is only by an assigned group. We were gathered into a pen where we met our park ranger who would be our guide.
The tour visits two rooms on the ground floor. The first room is the previous home of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The thing everyone comes here to see is across the hall. Independence Hall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were both debated and signed inside this room.
From the NPS website:
In 1776, the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence here. Eleven years later, in the same room, delegates to the Constitutional Convention created and signed an enduring framework of government – the United States Constitution. Although known today as Independence Hall, the building was constructed to be the Pennsylvania State House. It once housed all three branches of Pennsylvania’s colonial government.
The most interesting thing to me was that when I visited, there were as many international tourists as there were Americans. It seems that people from outside the United States are more interested in the ideals that led to the founding of the country than we are.
That’s the reason I like to visit historical sites like Independence Hall. Besides fulfilling the needs of my inner history nerd, I like to see the places that are important to our history. I also like visiting places that are important in other nations’ history to see a different viewpoint than I’ve been taught in school.
But I find Philadelphia’s Independence Hall has a special place in my soul. I can’t stand in that room and not think that I’m walking on the same floor where Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton stood.
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