Sonya's Blog - Day 143 - The Liberty Bell

Sonya’s Blog - Day 143 - November 12th - The Liberty Bell

Today we will visit the Liberty Bell. I expect to feel inspired by the bell and to be thank-ful for my liberties which the bell embodies. I know it is an American symbol, but it has come to be a symbol worldwide for everyone that wants to enjoy liberties. I enjoy a lot of liberties, but still we should be inspired. Off we go.

The Liberty Bell Museum is right across the street from Independence Hall, so we headed back down to the Historic District. It was supposed to be periods of light showers today, but it started raining pretty hard by the time we were half way to Philadelphia. We decided to try and find street parking near the Liberty Bell. I had wanted to walk around the Historic District some more, but I don’t want to do it in the rain. We found a parking spot about a block and a half away, which was nice, and then hustled over to the Liberty Bell. Admission was free, another bonus. The Liberty Bell is owned by the City of Philadelphia, but the Museum is operated by the National Park Service. I went on their website last night to see if they had any lesson plans, which they did (bonus). I printed off a timeline sheet and a jeopardy quiz game for the kids. I gave them both a timeline sheet and they had to find the answers in the Museum. The sheet had a whole list of important events in the history of the Liberty Bell, such as date it was ordered, date it cracked, dates it traveled to different cities, etc. There were 23 different events that the kids then needed to find the year that event happened and write it on the sheet. They then needed to put the events in chronological order. It is not a very large museum, it is a large gallery with the Liberty Bell at the end. Along the way to the Liberty Bell there are different information panels with information about the history of the Bell and how it became an important symbol to Americans. The panels go in chronological order. This is how the Liberty Bell came to be. Way back in 1751 it was decided that The State House (current day Independence Hall) had a lovely tower and it would be perfect for hanging a bell from. The decision was made to order a bell from the Whitechapel Foundry in London, England. Two years later the bell was received, weighing in at 2080 lbs. and was called The State House Bell. They decided to test the bell and the bell cracked upon the first test ring. Oops! Can you imagine being that guy that tested it, stressful. Well, they thought about sending it back, but then local metalworkers (John Pass and John Stow) melted that bell down and cast a new one. Nobody really loved the sound of it, but this is the bell that would call lawmakers to their meetings and the townspeople together. The inscription on the State House Bell is from the Old Testament, Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” Due to the inscription on the bell, it became a herald of liberty in the 19th Century when abolitionists used it as their rallying cry to bring about the end of slavery. The first time the State House Bell is referred to as the Liberty Bell is in 1835 in The Anti-Slavery Record (an abolitionist publication). The name was not adopted at this time, but the abolitionists gave it the new name of Liberty Bell. Americans became familiar with the bell through popular culture in 1847 when it was linked to American Independence and came to symbolize pride in a new nation. In the late 1800’s the Liberty Bell traveled across the country to fairs and expositions, stopping in many small towns along the way. The bell served to remind the country of American Independence, when they fought together for their country, as they were recovering from the Civil War. It was also used by the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement as a symbol for both protest and celebration. We then went and got our pictures with the Liberty Bell. Tash and I also got our picture with the Suffragettes, with the sash and everything. It was good to have an activity sheet for Isaac, because he was much more engaged and reading more panels at this museum. I will continue to do this for our future museum visits.

Blake really wanted to have a Philadelphia cheesesteak while we were in Philadelphia. We looked up where to go, and there are of course many places. From everything we read, it was created by Pat and Harry Olivieri, whose restaurant still stands in Philly. It is called Pat’s King of Steaks. We decided to head over there. We did not realize, until we got there, that it is not a restaurant. There are just order windows and you eat outside. It was still raining, but luckily they had an awning around the building so we could eat and not get wet. It was fine, some shaved beef and cheese on a huge bun. I could have used less bun, but I was pretty hungry by this time so I ate it. I thought it was a bit pricey, $10 a pop and cash only. They love the cash only in the States. Many, many establishments have a cash only policy. It was okay and Blake was happy we went. We then popped over to a local cafe that has the best cannoli’s in Philly. You can order from many different flavours and then pick the filling flavour as well. They were pretty fancy. They also did latte’s and such, so we all ordered a drink and one cannoli to try. They cannoli was too sweet for me, but the kids loved it. The coffee’s were really good. While we were in the cafe we went through the kids timelines for the Liberty Bell. As it turned out, all the dates were not on the information panels for all of the events that were on the sheet.. That was fine, as I had an answer key, so we just went through the ones they got and then discussed the one’s they did not get. As soon as they had the right dates, they set about putting the events in chronological order.

When we got in the car, we decided to head back to the RV. It was still raining, so walking around was not going to happen. On the drive back to the RV, we played the Jeopardy Game. The kids had a hard time remembering to frame their answers as questions, but they had fun. Blake was allowed to weigh in if both the kids got the answer wrong. Natasha won in the end.

Once we were back at the RV, we gave Kizmet a long walk. It was mid-afternoon and Blake had decided he wanted to go to see the Flyers play. He found tickets for about $20 (the Flyers are not doing very well, so tickets are cheap). Isaac wanted to go to the game, so Blake bought two tickets.

I needed to get back to booking more campsites for December and January. We should have been booking Florida a little sooner, a lot of places are booked up. I had to change around some dates for our current bookings as well. Natasha really wanted to see the 21 Pilots concert in Virginia on December 1st. We were supposed to be leaving Virginia that day, but I made some changes and we are now leaving on Dec. 2nd. Natasha has her tickets and we are all set to go now. I managed to get South Carolina booked, but I will need to call places tomorrow for bookings. The online bookings are saying many of them are full, but sometimes you can still get a site if you call.

Once I couldn’t do anymore with the bookings, Natasha and I watched The Breakfast Club. She has wanted to see it since it was referenced in Pitch Perfect. She enjoyed it and it was fun to see again.

The boys got back pretty late, they had lots of fun at the game. Philly lost 5-2 to Washington.

We head to Washington, D.C. tomorrow.

Sonya