John Thomson Faris, in 1917 produced an excellent 313 page volume about buildings and roads leading out of Philadelphia. The manuscript, titled Old Roads Out of Philadelphia is still available today through Google Books, an archive project that in effect rescues long lost works by digitizing them and making them available to the public. Many of the buildings and landmarks I run across in researching Tun Tavern and notables in mid 18th Century Philadelphia are included in the Ferris work. As a side project, I am covering these same roads today in 2010-12, and present fresh color digital pictures of some of the same buildings, landmarks and other edifices still around. Among them are spectacular restorations. There are stone walls, decaying spring houses and mills that will hopefully be preserved.

The new Philadelphia Waterfront plan was presented June 2011. Advocates of Historic Philadelphia need to insure that planners protect and preserve sunken known and unknown artifacts along the present waterfront; maintain an 18th Century Focus on the original wharves and Water Street histories, ship and mast yards that once populated the Southwark river frontage; protect visitors from the increasing criminal activity; and keep Independence Park and Old City remnants up and down the waterfront the Primary theme. If Boston has the ship "Old Iron Sides" and Providence has a replica of the ship Providence, Philadelphia needs to feature another of Joshua Humphreys's ships the United States as a centerpiece. Yes, build a replica of the Frigate, United States.

So as time allows, here's a quick shot collection of 18th Century Philadelphia and surrounding area, keystone of Democracy. A simple mouse-over will generate a nice pop-up with info details about the photo. The photos begin roughly at the Delaware River and move along Faris's old roads out of Philadelphia, 18th Century subjects only.

In terms of 18th Century scale, in 1750 a horse drawn wagon leaving Lancaster at sundown would reach Philadelphia at sun rise the next morning. The ride for travelers was so rough, people got off the wagons and coaches and walked. There were many taverns and hotels along the way that were often owned and operated by members of the Continental Congress or the merchant upper class. Two examples, Samuel Nicholas, the first commandant of the Marine Corps, ran along with his mother the Widow Nicholas, the Conestoga Wagon and stable at Market and Forth St. in Philadelphia. Robert Mullen, the first Marine Corps Recruiter, owned and ran Tun Tavern on Water Street below Spruce and a catering business out on the Schuylkill after the death of his father.

The photos begin from the Wharf (Penn's Landing) on the Delaware River, Philadelphia:

The USS United States (my model)is a composite photo but a fitting start to the Philadelphia segment. The ship United States was designed and built in Philadelphia by Joshua Humphreys, a Philadelphia shipbuilder. It was was one of the first six frigates to apply America's naval power on the high seas. The ship United States under command of Commodore Barry patrolled the West Indies. At the turn of the century after the USS Constitution, another Humphreys frigate defeated the HMS Guerrier the USS United States defeated the HMS Macedonian; both violent sea engagements producing heavy casualties. The USS Philadelphia, another Humphreys ship, commanded by Edward Preble served off Tripoli in the attacks on Molehead to put down pirates then extorting ransom for captured merchant ships in the Mediterranean. The ship was burned to the waterline by American sailors and marines to prevent the captured frigate from being used by the pirates. Discussions about these conflicts at sea surely could have been heard in these very buildings which still stand today. All buildings in these photos were a part of the rich 18th Century story.
18th Century Buildings of Philadelphia