The second bridge driving to Philadelphia "The Walt Whitman Bridge"

Nearing the Philadelphia looking at the city skyline.

Pennsylvania State House, Not until 1775, when the second meeting of the Continental Congress occurred in it, or until July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of American Independence was adopted in it, was the Pennsylvania State House to mount into lasting fame. And not until fifty years after that was it to be popularly known as "Independence Hall."  A red brick building, built between 1732 and 1756 and designed in the Georgian style by Edmund Woolley and Andrew Hamilton. Commissioned by the Pennsylvania colonial legislature and inhabited by the colonial government of Pennsylvania as their State House. Two smaller buildings adjoin Independence Hall: to the east is Old City Hall, and to the west is Congress Hall. These three buildings are together on a city block known as Independence Square, along with Philosophical Hall, the original home of the American Philosophical Society.

The statue in the shade of the Pennsylvania State House, Diane at the pedestal.  John Barry (1745 – 13 September 1803) was an officer in the Continental Navy and later in the United States Navy.

Barry was born in Tacumshane, County Wexford, Ireland and appointed a Captain in the Continental Navy 7 December 1775. He commanded Lexington and Alliance. He and his crew of the Alliance fought and won the final naval battle of the American_Revolution off the coast of Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1783. He was seriously wounded 29 May 1781 while in command of Alliance during her capture of HMS Atalanta and Trepassey. Appointed senior captain upon the establishment of the U.S. Navy, he commanded the frigate United States in the Quasi-War with France. He also had a hand in the establishment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Commodore Barry died at Strawberry Hill, near Philadelphia on 13 September 1803, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Philadelphia.

Diane and Liberty Bell and Diane.

"Liberty Bell" with the Pennsylvania State House in the window background.  The bell tower steeple of Independence Hall was the original home of the "Liberty Bell" and today it holds a "Centennial Bell" that was created for the United States Centennial Exposition in 1876. The original Liberty Bell, with the distinctive crack, is now on display across the street in the Liberty Bell Center. In 1976 Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain visited Philadelphia and presented a gift to the American people of a replica Bicentennial Bell, which was cast in the same British foundry as the original. This 1976 bell hangs in the modern bell tower located on 3rd Street near Independence Hall

"Liberty Bell" and that creepy weirdo.

Inside, touring the  "Pennsylvania State House".

Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

 Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

 Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

Going Upstairs

Upstairs was used as a Dance Hall for Special Events

Looking out the upstairs window at the construction site for the new Visitors Center

 Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".

In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After debate, the Confederation Congress endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787. Twelve states, Rhode Island being the only exception, accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787 at Independence Hall.

The resolution calling the Convention specified its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep deliberations secret, and to keep the Hall's windows shut throughout the hot summer. The result was the drafting of a new fundamental government design. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed, and took effect on March 4, 1789, when the new Congress met for the first time in New York's Federal Hall.

In 1790, the Congress moved back into Philadelphia and first met in Congress Hall, mere footsteps away from Independence Hall, on December 6. Philadelphia would remain the seat of the federal government until 1800, where it made its permanent home in Washington, DC. During this time Independence Hall served as the Capitol Building with executive offices, while the the Supreme Court assembled in Old City Hall and the Congress continued to meet in Congress Hall.

 Inside, touring the  " Pennsylvania State House".  

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