Hoo boy. So I'm an old white guy walking around the city where a bunch of other old white guys founded a country that was (on paper) all about equality while at the same time denying equality to more than half the people in their new country. Usually, the NPS does a great job acknowledging the complexities and contradictions in our country's history, but it seemed weak in Philadelphia.
First off, the west-coast standard land acknowledgments were almost completely absent. In an entire day of adventuring, I saw only one small, temporary sign recognizing Philadelphia was built on the lands of the Lenape people. This was in the American Philosophical Society mixed in with a display about meteorology.
Next, there are tons of statues that commemorate the aforementioned white guys, but if there were any recognizing non-white or non-male people, we didn't see them. Betsy Ross' house was about the closest, but that was off the beaten path and not an NPS site. Even if it counts, the tally still stands at million-to-one.
Thirdly (yeah, it's a word), the contradictions of "owners" of enslaved people making policy about being free was pretty much restricted to the President's House. Kudos for having a discussion about it, but why restrict it to one site? I would rather have seen it woven into each of the sites to ensure it didn't get missed.
In the meantime, we saw all the sights. The Liberty Bell was smaller than expected and we didn't lick it. Toured Independence Hall (great ranger talk, tiny space), saw really old streets, found a magnificent mosaic created by Tiffany tucked away in the lobby of a private building adjacent to Independence Square, and saw far-flung sites for both Edgar Allen Poe (moody AF) and Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
Around each corner was another monument or historical site. Everything was 300 years old and little had been replaced by newer construction. A lot of the sites were closed for maintenance or renovation so we didn't get to see it all.
Of course, if you leave the historical district, you're back in a regular city. We saw this when we drove out of town and when walking to the Edgar Allen Poe site. It's a very different city than the insular pocket of history we stayed in.
Not that you asked, but we did get to eat a Philly chessesteak. Twice. Three times. We're not foodies, but when we find something we like we keep going back. Instead of trying a lot of restaurants in the area, we kept going back to Oh Brother each night. I assume there's other good food in the city, but why bother?
After hitting NPS sites to the northwest, in the city, and in Delaware, Mrs. Moosefish headed home and I headed to a conference near D.C. Spoiler: There's more NPS goodness down there, too.
