The Birthplace of America

Yet onto another of our day trips from Baltimore, the second main base in the trip so far. While the day before we enjoyed a great escape to Washington DC, the capital of the nation, today we would do so at the city that is referred to as “the birthplace of America”, Philadelphia. For me it’s the second time here, but luckily in this occasion the time spent was way longer than back in the 2012 trip where I was only for just around 4 hours, and even so, still managed to visit almost everything. Running yes, rushing for sure, not the nicest way. Now it was a different story.

While I totally refrain from copying anything from the internet directly into my blog, I must say that the following text given in Wikipedia best describe some of the key facts of the city: “I was founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Thereafter played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Other events occurred during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown and the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia was one of the nation’s  capitals during the revolution and served as temporary U.S. capital while Washington D.C. was under construction.

Summarising some of the nation’s first, then by yearly order would be the first Library in 1731, the first hospital in 1751, the first medical school back in 1765; of course as mentioned before, the first national capital in 1774 until Washington DC was built. The first stock exchange was created in 1790, the first zoo in 1874, followed by the Centennial Exposition in 1876 which was in turn, the first official World’s Fair in the United States. Lastly, in 1881 the creation of the first business school.

(more…)