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The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation memorializes the paradox of slavery and freedom at the site of the nation’s first executive mansion, in which Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived during their terms and where nine enslaved people served the first president.
The open-air Independence National Historical Park site, located just steps from the Liberty Bell Center, offers a place for silent reflection and also features a large glass vitrine that allows visitors to view archaeological fragments that were unearthed at the site in 2007.
Note: The interpretive panels at the President’s House were removed by the National Park Service on January 22, 2026. Approximately half of the interpretive panels were restored on February 20, 2026.
From 1790 to 1800, the city of Philadelphia was the new nation’s capital, and the President’s House, home to Presidents George Washington and John Adams, served as America’s first executive mansion.
Presidents Washington and Adams both lived on this site during their terms.
The forefathers fought hard to attain freedom for “We the People,” but in one of our nation’s great paradoxes, President George Washington brought at least nine enslaved Africans from his Mount Vernon home to live and work in the President’s House, which stood just one block from what’s now known as Independence Hall.
President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation commemorates the site of the executive mansion of the first two United States presidents and the lives of the enslaved Africans who toiled at the house during Washington’s presidency.
For more about the President’s House, click the button below.
The Visit Philly Overnight Package — booked more than 190,000 times since 2001 — comes with free hotel parking (worth up to $100 in Center City Philadelphia) and overnight hotel accommodations.
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