The Historic American Revolution Trail of Philadelphia

Fed up with King George’s taxes and trade policies, representatives from 12 colonies (Georgia didn’t attend) gathered at Carpenters’ Hall in 1774 for the First Continental Congress and voted on a trade embargo, the first of many unified acts of defiance against England.

This Georgian-style gem’s history is significant, but modern-day visitors often stop by to appreciate the building’s architecture, courtesy of the country’s oldest craft guild. Open daily, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; closed Mondays and major holidays. (Pro tip: Ask about their After Hours Whisky Tour).

On the site of Robert Bell’s print shop, at the intersection of 3rd Street and Thomas Paine Place in Old City, stands a historical marker dedicated to the first edition of Common Sense — the revolutionary pamphlet, printed on January 10, 1776, that argued fervently for independence.

The building is long gone, yet Paine’s impact endures as one of the most important propaganda pieces in American history. Note: The American Philosophical Society has a rare first edition of Common Sense on display. (More on that location below.)

During the blistering summer of 1776, 56 delegates gathered at the Pennsylvania State House and pledged their “lives, their fortune and their sacred honor” in the pursuit of independence.

Now known as Independence Hall, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, finalizing the colonies’ break with England. Visitors can also stroll over to the conjoined Congress Hall to see where George Washington was inaugurated.

Independence Hall offers an open house (no tickets required) from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with tours every 20 minutes from 10:40 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The State House Bell, known as the Liberty Bell today, was placed in the white steeple atop Independence Hall in 1753, where it went mostly unnoticed during the Revolutionary War.

It gained national significance in 1835 when abolitionists rallied around the bell’s inscription: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.”

Today, the Liberty Bell Center displays the original bell (and its much-debated crack) along with exhibits detailing how it became a worldwide icon. Entry is always free: daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Colonial Philadelphia had roughly one ale house for every 160 citizens. This is the last one standing. Founded in 1759, this charming three-story brick building was a gathering spot for the city’s working class (think: stevedores, shipwrights, dock workers) as they debated the pros and cons of pursuing independence.

The tavern was refurbished and reopened in 2024 as a 25-seat tasting room for Succession Fermentory, with a second-floor museum and gallery of colonial artifacts curated by owner Dan Wheeler.

The Continental Army and Navy needed armaments, and this Chester County foundry supplied the troops with cannons, shots and shells, including 115 big guns for the Continental Navy.

The circa 1771 intact iron-making village includes a furnace complex, village store, blacksmith shop, plus the can’t-miss Mark Bird Stove – the earliest known casting produced at Hopewell Furnace. The summer season brings living history demonstrations.

Entry is always free: Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When the American troops were low on weapons, food, supplies and the money to purchase them, several members of Philadelphia’s first synagogue stepped up to help finance and underwrite the Revolutionary War, including co-founder Haym Salomon. The Polish-born Jewish merchant was so generous with his personal resources that he was penniless by the time of his death in 1785.

Tours of this historic synagogue are offered by calling 215-922-5446.

Founding Father Robert Morris, known as the “Financier of the American Revolution,” first purchased the lush land where this sprawling estate sits in 1770 for his country seat, “The Hills.”

Located high above the Schuylkill River, Lemon Hill Mansion is considered the Birthplace of Fairmount Park, the largest municipal park in Philadelphia. Ironically, Morris never lived in this Federal-style mansion. Instead, Morris died in debt, and the land was confiscated by the city.

Self-guided tours are offered daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., April through December.

The ragtag Continental Army had Polish war hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko to thank for the brilliant military engineering that helped them pummel the Redcoats in several battles.

Kosciuszko was a military giant — commissioned by George Washington to fortify West Point, the same defenses that the traitorous Benedict Arnold attempted to betray — but resided in a humble one-room apartment in this corner boarding house that opens for self-guided tours on weekends, April through October.

On September 11, 1777, 30,000 American and British soldiers faced off at Brandywine Battlefield Park in the largest land battle of the Revolution. Despite being led by a who’s who of the Continental Army — Washington, Wayne, Lafayette, Knox and others — the Americans suffered a major blow.

The site is now a park, offering terrain to freely explore, and, for a fee, access to a small museum of artifacts and two historic houses, including the Benjamin Ring House, which briefly served as Washington’s headquarters.

Brandywine Battlefield Park is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

On the morning of October 4, 1777, Washington and his army fought for hours trying to remove the British troops who had taken shelter in this historic Germantown estate. After several hours of intense fighting, the defeated patriot forces retreated to Montgomery County.

Today, Cliveden commemorates the Battle of Germantown on the first Saturday of every October, with the Revolutionary Germantown Festival featuring two reenactments.

Any time of year, visitors can experience the museum and grounds through tours and exhibitions.

For six long, cold weeks in 1777, a cadre of 400 soldiers huddled inside Fort Mifflin to fend off British ships attempting to bring supplies to British-occupied Philadelphia. Despite a lack of food, freezing temperatures and rampant illness, the rebels held the ships back, giving George Washington time to flee to Valley Forge.

Philadelphia’s only fort — and one of the most haunted sites in the country, doubling as a Confederate prison during the Civil War — opens to the public Wednesdays through Sundays, March 1 through December 15, for tours of barracks, a blacksmith shop and daily cannon demonstrations at 1 p.m. (weekends only).

During the Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, one of Washington’s most celebrated generals — named for his fervor, not mental illness — would sometimes return to his family home for a good night’s sleep. The Battle of Paoli took place steps away from their front door, and yet the house survived unscathed.

Guided tours lead visitors from the carriage house through the elegant residence and tell stories about objects, art and seven generations of Waynes who dwelled there until 1980.

The site is open from April through December, Thursdays through Sundays, 1 to 3 p.m.

Built between 1743 and 1748 by prosperous Quaker entrepreneur Samuel Morris, Hope Lodge stands tall in Montgomery County as an excellent example of early Georgian architecture.

The main house was headquarters for General Washington’s Surgeon General John Cochran during the Whitemarsh Encampment, a six-week period of the American Revolution when the Continental Army occupied the surrounding fields after the Battle of Germantown.

Tours are held most Sundays, April through October.

At midnight on September 20, 1777, 1,800 British troops used bayonets to raid General Anthony Wayne’s 2,200 troops camped in this field — in what became the war’s ninth bloodiest battle — while coining a unified rallying cry, the first of the Revolution: Remember Paoli.

The country’s second-oldest Revolutionary War monument commemorates the American lives lost during the “Paoli Massacre.” Today, the 60-acre site serves as a historical park and memorial grounds with self-guided tours along a three-quarter-mile trail.

In early October 1777, General Washington and his staff chose this Pennsylvania farm as a temporary headquarters while planning a strategy to engage the British forces in Germantown, a major defeat for the Continental Army. Washington’s contingent returned to the Wentz property for four days later that month before marching in for the winter encampment at Valley Forge that same December.

Visitors to the restored site (appointment-only, no drop-ins accepted) can take on-the-hour tours to view livestock, kitchens, German furnishings and 1777-inspired recreations of farmstead life.

During its long, storied history, Stenton saw both sides of the war.

In August 1777, as he made his way to the Battle of Brandywine, General George Washington sought refuge in James Logan’s 1730 country-seat plantation. Then, Britain’s General Howe occupied the estate for the month leading up to and through the Battle of Germantown.

This Germantown estate houses remnants of bookcases that held the 2,681-volume library of Logan, who mentored Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram. Tours are offered in the afternoon, Tuesday through Saturday, from early April through mid-December.

Situated inside Washington Square Park — one of the five public parks chartered by William Penn in 1682 — stands a monument dedicated to the disinterred body of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier shot by a musket ball. Today, this monument and final resting place represents all of the soldiers and civilians who died in the war.

An eternal flame burns in front of a bronze statue of George Washington, with inspiring words etched into the tomb: “Freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness.”

This 3,500-acre national park is the site of the 1777 to 1778 winter encampment of George Washington’s Continental Army, including the parade grounds where Baron von Steuben transformed a battered Continental Army into a fearsome fighting force.

Woodlands, streams, monuments and more than 26 miles of trails commemorate the sacrifice and transformation of the Continental Army during those pivotal six months. Visitors can explore the encampment through tours and exhibits, including a special tribute to the Black soldiers — approximately 720 patriots — who took up arms for Washington.

In 1776, General Washington gave the Hessian troops a morning-after-Christmas surprise — a sneak attack that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War.

Echoes of that historic event are evidenced throughout Washington Crossing Historic Park, especially during the holidays when local reenactors don colonial attire and recreate that daring trip across the ice-shocked Delaware River — and they do it twice, a First Crossing (two weeks prior to Christmas Day), followed by a Christmas Day Crossing.

Also, look out for a full-scale, 40-foot replica of the boat Washington and his troops used to cross come to life as part of the Durham Boat Project.

Betsy Ross lost three husbands (two during the war), but unlike many widows who were left without resources, her skills as an upholsterer and seamstress enabled her to support herself and her seven children.

According to legend, George Washington walked into her Old City home and presented Betsy with a sketch, asking if she could stitch a flag. Her response? “I do not know, but I will try.” Ross died at the age of 84 in 1836, and she and her third husband, John Claypoole, are buried in the courtyard outside her home.

Self-guided tours are available year-round, with extended hours in the summer.

The bloody business of war still haunts the summer retreat home of the Wister family, occupied by British Brigadier General James Agnew before the Battle of Germantown. Shot in the back, Agnew died at this site, and more than two centuries later, the bloodstains are still visible on the floor.

Still, the site is more than its bloody past: The wisteria plant is named after the Wister family, and a towering gingko tree — the oldest female gingko tree in North America — also stands on the property.

Tours are available on the second Saturday of every month, May through October, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Perched amid 16 acres of parkland, Harriton House quietly holds an important place in America’s history.

Built in 1704, it was home to Charles Thomson, an abolitionist who became secretary to both Continental Congresses. The original desk where Thomson signed the copy of the Declaration of Independence that was sent to King George is discreetly placed in Harriton’s great hall.

Pro tip: Go outside and explore the barnyard, complete with Tunis sheep bestowed to Thomson from George Washington. Guided tours are available Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The elegant 18th-century Society Hill townhouse of Samuel and Elizabeth Powel opened to Founding Fathers for post-planning soirees, including the Washingtons’ 20th wedding anniversary, a meal John Adams referred to as a “Sinful Feast” and dances in the Rococo ballroom. The Powel House was occupied by British soldiers in 1777.

Today, the elegant Georgian home, with antique portraits, clocks, china from Martha Washington and a formal garden, opens for on-the-hour tours Thursdays through Sundays.

In December 1776, wounded and ailing soldiers recovered at this Bucks County home, where hundreds of soldiers encamped in the weeks prior to the daring crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night. James Monroe, who would later become the fifth president, convalesced here after a musket ball struck his shoulder during the Battle of Trenton.

Located in Washington Crossing Historic Park, the Thompson-Neely House offers guided tours Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

During the Battle of Germantown, Wyck was used as a field hospital, the 18th-century version of a MASH unit. Visits to this former Quaker estate include tours of the house’s antique-filled first floor, the country’s oldest rose garden in its original plan and a working quarter-acre farm.

Walk-in visitors are welcome Thursdays through Saturdays, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., early April through mid-November, with other times by appointment. Plus, save the date: Wyck holds its annual Celebration of the Roses event in late May.

This Historic District landmark was once affectionately called the “Nation’s Church,” because on any given Sunday during the Revolutionary War, one could find a who’s who of the era worshipping there.

Still active, Christ Church served as the house of worship for seven signers of the Declaration of Independence. Self-guided and guided tours take place daily, except during services or ceremonies, or during select days in the winter.

Dating to 1719, Christ Church Burial Ground is the final resting place for many who toiled for American independence. Among the 4,000 graves are those of Benjamin and Deborah Franklin, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, and Continental Army officers Major William Jackson and General Jacob Morgan.

Located three blocks away from Christ Church, this Revolution-era burial ground is open for self-guided and guided tours daily for a small fee. Visitors on the sidewalk often toss pennies onto the Franklins’ grave, a nod to his famous adage, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Many who gave their lives in the pursuit of liberty went nameless when they were laid to rest at this Germantown site. Today, 52 of the soldiers have been identified, although six more who perished in the Battle of Germantown remain unknown.

The Concord School, built in 1775 by Jacob Knorr and expanded in 1818, served as the first English-language school in Philadelphia. In 1839, the schoolhouse was used as a rallying place for abolitionists and hosted anti-slavery meetings, with some historical evidence suggesting it was used as a classroom for Black children.

The grounds and 1775 schoolhouse are open for tours on the second Saturdays of May through October, on select holidays and by appointment.

Built in 1783, the last year of the American Revolution, this Georgian-style brick building served as a safe haven for non-conformists.

The “Free Quakers” supported the war and fought for independence, breaking with the Religious Society of Friends (traditional Quakers) and establishing their own place of worship on the corner of 5th and Arch Streets in Philadelphia. One of the most famous members? Betsy Ross, herself.

The site is open Saturdays and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

George and Martha Washington, John Adams, and other notable colonials attended this house of worship, and history continues to permeate the gravesite here. Commodore John Barry, founder of the U.S. Navy, is buried in the adjacent cemetery, along with General Washington aide-de-camp Stephen Moylan and other heroes of the Revolution.

A historical marker outside states that Old St. Mary’s Church was the site of the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1779.

Founded by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge,” the American Philosophical Society today is home to a research library with over 13 million pages of manuscripts and 250,000 books.

Here, American Revolution buffs can now find 10,000 reels of microfilm, nearly 8,000 books, 2,000 pamphlets and more — all devoted solely to the American Revolution. The site currently has 19 rare copies of the Declaration of Independence on display, including Thomas Jefferson’s “Fair Copy” — a rare, unedited version.

This library and research facility holds a wealth of information about people and events that played a regional role in the Revolutionary War.

These include resources on the three battles fought in Chester County, family genealogy collections and various museum objects.

More than 3,000 books, pamphlets and serials, along with 210 archival collections dealing with the American Revolution, are included in this vast array of primary source materials and research resources for inquiring minds.

The site’s private vault houses a printer’s proof of the Declaration of Independence, Martha Washington’s cookbook and William Still’s Underground Railroad Journals, as well as Johannes Kelpius’ hymn book from 1708, believed to be the first musical manuscript in American history.

Established by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in 1731, The Library Company of Philadelphia was America’s first successful lending library when 50 founding shareholders signed on to pool their resources and share their private collections for public consumption.

Today, the site serves as an appointment-only research library while hosting various exhibits, lectures, digital collections and free fireside chats. Check the attraction’s Beyond the Reading Room blog for special events and walking tours.

This all-encompassing museum brings to life the Revolutionary War through an unmatched collection of artifacts, including weapons, documents, works of art and, the show-stopper, General Washington’s War Tent.

With powerful films, digital touchscreens and historical vignettes, the museum makes its home in the heart of Philadelphia’s Historic District. There is also an entire exhibit dedicated to the sacrifices of Indigenous peoples, specifically the Oneida Nation.

The National Constitution Center picks up the narrative in 1787, three years after the end of the war, with the creation of a new government.

Delegates from the former colonies gathered in Philadelphia and elected George Washington to preside over the Constitutional Convention, the result of which was the signing of the United States Constitution, ratified later that year.

The attraction’s newest permanent gallery, America’s Founding, explores the idea of a fledgling nation — a blueprint for what’s possible, from beginning to end.

One of the most untold stories of the American Revolution centered around Jewish patriots living in the small Caribbean island of St. Eustatius.

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History captures their story with The First Salute, an exhibition exploring a brave group of merchants who supplied the colonists with much-needed money and ammunition, leading to the first international recognition of the United States courtesy of a 13-gun cannon salute.

Entry is always free: Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.