Elizabeth Song: A different sort of July 4th
[Elizabeth Song is a College junior from Clemmons, N.C.]
In Philadelphia's graveyards, history comes alive. Take a stroll through the cobble-stoned heart of Old City, and you'll find some of America's earliest burial grounds.
Christ Church Burial Ground is one of these. On the corner of 5th and Arch streets, the church's property holds the graves of seven signers of the Declaration of Independence, including that of Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin's grave is littered with pennies from well-wishers - $3,000 a year's worth, according to Tourism Director Anne McLaughlin.
Philadelphia mayors, numerous naval notables and medicinal pioneers occupy some of the 4,000 or so grave sites - along with female domestics, merchants, slaves and infant children. The burial ground's youngest member is Edward Roberts (just three hours old), and its eldest member lived to be over a century.
Burial ground coordinator John Hopkins, who has devoted much of his life to the maintenance of these sites, knows the intricate histories of these graves.
Hopkins quit his full time job at a warehouse and began as a volunteer at the burial ground. "One day, I wandered into the burial ground. I felt a connection immediately when I got there," Hopkins said. "It just felt like a calling."
In some ways, the grounds can be more instructive than a visit to more notable sites like the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. Of all 4,000 graves, only about 1,400 are identified. Some of the unmarked graves belong to slaves, and others, through neglect, have sunken into the ground.
They offer a broad and unparalleled segment of Philadelphia's social history. ...
Read entire article at Daily Pennsylvanian (student newspaper)
In Philadelphia's graveyards, history comes alive. Take a stroll through the cobble-stoned heart of Old City, and you'll find some of America's earliest burial grounds.
Christ Church Burial Ground is one of these. On the corner of 5th and Arch streets, the church's property holds the graves of seven signers of the Declaration of Independence, including that of Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin's grave is littered with pennies from well-wishers - $3,000 a year's worth, according to Tourism Director Anne McLaughlin.
Philadelphia mayors, numerous naval notables and medicinal pioneers occupy some of the 4,000 or so grave sites - along with female domestics, merchants, slaves and infant children. The burial ground's youngest member is Edward Roberts (just three hours old), and its eldest member lived to be over a century.
Burial ground coordinator John Hopkins, who has devoted much of his life to the maintenance of these sites, knows the intricate histories of these graves.
Hopkins quit his full time job at a warehouse and began as a volunteer at the burial ground. "One day, I wandered into the burial ground. I felt a connection immediately when I got there," Hopkins said. "It just felt like a calling."
In some ways, the grounds can be more instructive than a visit to more notable sites like the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. Of all 4,000 graves, only about 1,400 are identified. Some of the unmarked graves belong to slaves, and others, through neglect, have sunken into the ground.
They offer a broad and unparalleled segment of Philadelphia's social history. ...