Christ_Church_Burial_Ground

Christ Church Burial Ground

Christ Church Burial Ground

Historic site in Philadelphia

For the cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts, see Christ Church Burial Ground (Quincy, Massachusetts).

Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes, and George Ross. Two additional signers of the Declaration of Independence, James Wilson and Robert Morris, are buried at Christ Church just a few blocks away.

Quick Facts Location, Coordinates ...

History

The cemetery belongs to Christ Church, the Episcopal church, which was founded in 1695 and served as a place of worship for many of the most notable participants in the American Revolution, including George Washington. The burial ground is located at 5th and Arch streets, across from the Visitors Center and National Constitution Center in Center City Philadelphia. The Burial Ground was opened in 1719, and is still an active cemetery. The Burial Ground is open to the public for a small fee, weather permitting; about 100,000 tourists visit each year.

Ben Franklin gravesite

When the Burial Ground is closed, one can still view Benjamin Franklin's gravesite from the sidewalk at the corner of 5th and Arch Streets through a set of iron rails. The bronze rails in the brick wall were added for public viewing in 1858 by parties working at the behest of the Franklin Institute, which assumed the responsibility of defending Franklin's historic ties to Philadelphia after prominent Bostonians criticized the city's maintenance of the grave and erected a Franklin statue there.[2] Leaving pennies on Franklin's grave is an old Philadelphia tradition.

Burials

Other famous people buried at Christ Church Burial Ground include:

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. [2]
    Dixon, Mark (April 19, 2017). "How Franklin's Grave Became a Monument and Philadelphians Were Persuaded to Like It". Hidden City Philadelphia. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  3. [3]
    "The Graves". Christ Church in Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  4. [4]
    United States Congress. "John Cadwalader (id: C000011)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christ Church Burial Ground.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Christ_Church_Burial_Ground, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.