Christ Church and Burial Ground

Christ Church is the most beautiful colonial building in Philadelphia that most visitors only glimpse from the street. Founded in 1695 as the first Anglican parish in the colony, its present red-brick Georgian church on Second Street, just above Market, was built in the first half of the eighteenth century, and its tall white steeple was for decades the tallest structure in the American colonies. Step inside and you are in one of the finest Georgian interiors in the country: a bright, elegant nave with a great Palladian window, white columns and box pews, including the pews associated with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross. The baptismal font, from All Hallows church in London, is the one in which William Penn was baptized, and the church played a central role in founding the Episcopal Church in the United States after the Revolution. It is still a working parish, so services, weddings and funerals take precedence. Two blocks west, at Fifth and Arch Streets, is Christ Church Burial Ground, a walled colonial and Revolutionary-era cemetery with about fourteen hundred markers on two acres. Franklin and his wife Deborah are buried here, in a plot by the Arch Street wall that is visible through the railings, and it is a long-standing tradition to toss a penny onto his flat grave for luck. Several signers of the Declaration of Independence and many other figures of the era rest here too. The church is open daily from 11am to 5pm, with adjusted hours around Sunday worship; the burial ground is open daily from 11am to 5pm, closes earlier in December, and closes entirely in January and February. Admission is small: self-guided entry, short guided tours of twenty to thirty minutes, and a combination ticket.

Why it matters: the founding story is usually told through government buildings, but Christ Church shows the social and spiritual world of the people involved. Members of the Continental Congress worshipped here, the congregation included patriots and loyalists whose divisions split the parish during the war, and its leaders shaped American religious freedom after independence. The building's craftsmanship is a reminder of how wealthy and sophisticated colonial Philadelphia had become. Look for the memorials and plaques along the walls, and the chandelier and pulpit, and ask the guides about the bells that rang for independence.

Visit craft: take the guided tour in the church if one is starting; the guides are excellent and it only takes half an hour. For the burial ground, the self-guided map is worth its small price, as it points you to the graves of signers, Revolutionary officers and notable Philadelphians. If you only have a minute, Franklin's grave can be seen from the Arch Street sidewalk through the railings without a ticket. Check the parish calendar for concerts and services, which can change visiting hours, and remember the burial ground's winter closure in January and February.

Pairing and fit: the church is a short walk from Elfreth's Alley and the Betsy Ross House, and the burial ground is a block from the National Constitution Center and the Benjamin Franklin Museum, so both fit easily into an Old City morning. Pair them with Independence Hall for a complete founding-era loop, then lunch on Second or Third Street. It suits history buffs, architecture lovers and anyone who wants a quieter, more personal side of the founding story, told among the graves of the people who lived it.