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Christ Church Burial Ground

1719 establishments in PennsylvaniaAnglican cemeteries in the United StatesCemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in PhiladelphiaHistory of PhiladelphiaOld City, Philadelphia
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1719Tourist attractions in Philadelphia
Grabstätte Franklin
Grabstätte Franklin

Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes and George Ross. Two more signers (James Wilson and Robert Morris) are buried at Christ Church just a few blocks away. The cemetery belongs to Christ Church, the Episcopal church founded in 1695 and place of worship for many of the famous Revolutionary War participants, including George Washington. The burial ground is located at 5th and Arch Streets, across from the Visitors Center and National Constitution Center. The Burial Ground was started in 1719, and it is still an active cemetery. The Burial Ground is open to the public for a small fee, weather permitting; about 100,000 tourists visit each year. When the Burial Ground is closed, one can still view Benjamin Franklin's gravesite from the sidewalk at the corner of 5th and Arch through a set of iron rails. The bronze rails in the brick wall were added for public viewing in 1858 by parties working at the behest of the Franklin Institute, which assumed the responsibility of defending Franklin's historic ties to Philadelphia after prominent Bostonians criticized the city's maintenance of the grave and erected a Franklin statue there. Leaving pennies on Franklin's grave is an old Philadelphia tradition.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Christ Church Burial Ground (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Christ Church Burial Ground
5th Street, Philadelphia Center City

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Latitude Longitude
N 39.951944444444 ° E -75.148611111111 °
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Commodore Uriah P. Levy

5th Street
19106 Philadelphia, Center City
Pennsylvania, United States
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Grabstätte Franklin
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Arch Street Friends Meeting House
Arch Street Friends Meeting House

The Arch Street Friends Meeting House, at 320 Arch Street at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Built to reflect Friends’ testimonies of simplicity and equality, this building is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use. Pennsylvania founder and Quaker William Penn deeded land to the Society of Friends in 1701 to be used as a burial ground. The east wing and center of the meetinghouse was built between 1803 and 1805 according to a design by the Quaker carpenter Owen Biddle Jr. Biddle is best known as the author of a builder's handbook, The Young Carpenter's Assistant, published in 1805. The building was enlarged in 1810–11, with the addition of the west wing. Architects Walter Ferris Price and Morris & Erskine also contributed to the design and construction of the building. The firm Cope & Lippincott renovated the interior of the east wing and designed the two-story addition behind the center building in 1968–69.Today, the Meeting House continues to be a center for worship and the activities of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Notable members of the Religious Society of Friends who worshiped at this meetinghouse include abolitionists and woman rights advocates Sarah and Angelina Grimke. Edward Hicks, the noted painter and cousin of Elias Hicks, also attended meeting here.The meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2011. The latter designation was as a consequence of the building being the only surviving documented work by Owen Biddle.