A Guide to Philadelphia

Philadelphia, at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuykill Rivers, 60 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, was established as a planned city in 1682, the creation of the English Quaker, William Penn. It is a quintessential colonial city, now the fifth largest in the United States.

In the late 1760s Philadelphia was the main industrial city and also the largest. It was the capital of modern America during1790-1800 while Washington DC was being built. But in the 19th century Philadelphia took a back seat to New York City.

Philadelphia is a dream destination for art lovers, history buffs, military aficionadas and shopoholics as it has the world’s largest shopping malls. But like most large cities, it does have a crime problem, so rather not use the subways in Downtown at night, particularly over weekends.

Philadelphia can be divided into Old City for historic buildings; Center City for arts and culture; South Philly for its vibrant Italian Market, and University City for its Ivy League University of Pennsylvania on a campus renowned for its beauty, founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin.

Fairmount Park, divided in two by the Schuylkill River, is ten times the size of New York’s Central Park and is the world’s largest landscaped garden. Victorian rowing clubs are found on Boathouse Row.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway, modelled on the Champs Elyseés in Paris, is a centre for museums like the country’s finest art gallery, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, housed in a Greco-Roman style temple, a Rodin Museum, and the Franklin Institute Science Museum where you can walk through an enormous model of a heart or visit the planetarium amongst many other amazing exhibits.

Other galleries and museums include the Barnes Foundation Gallery, a treasure trove of French modern and post-impressionist paintings, the International Museum of American Jewish History, the African-American Museum, an International Sculpture Garden, one of the world’s greatest zoological gardens with Victorian gardens covering 42 acres, and the Mütter Museum which exhibits macabre medical human abnormalities - not for the squeamish!

Independence National Historic Park on 45 acres has about 20 historic buildings, the most famous being Independence Hall where, on 4 July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved. The Liberty Bell which summoned citizens to the first reading of the Declaration is on display. The Hall is considered the birthplace of the American nation. Library Hall contains Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration, and an underground museum at Franklin Court is testament to the greatness of Benjamin Franklin.

Two thousand 18th century buildings still stand - history is very much alive in ‘the city of brotherly love’.

About an hour’s drive south-west of Philadelphia is the small town of Gettysburg, where the Western Hemisphere’s largest battle was fought over 1 - 3 July 1863 during the Civil War when 50 000 men were killed. The Gettysburg National Military Park covers 6 000 acres with more than 1 400 monuments and memorials. Students of military history will find this park utterly fascinating.