Philadelphia, PA

Remembering.

photo from Nationalgeographic.com

In June 1776, Betsy Ross was a widow struggling to run her own upholstery business. Upholsterers in colonial America not only worked on furniture but did all manner of sewing work, which for some included making flags. According to Betsy, in May the Congressional Committee called upon her at her shop. General Washington showed her a rough design of the flag that included a six-pointed star. Betsy, a standout with the scissors, demonstrated how to cut a five-pointed star in a single snip. Impressed, the committee entrusted Betsy with making our first flag. She finished the flag between late May and early June 1776, in time for the signing of the Declaration Of Independence in July. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress, seeking to promote national pride and unity, adopted the national flag. “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The Betsy Ross House is located in Old City Philadelphia, 239 Arch Street, between 2nd and 3rd street. It is open for tours 7 days a week from 10am-5pm. The suggested donation is $5 for adults and $2 for children.
Ross never owned this house, but rented here between the years of 1773 and 1786. The house was built about 1740 and consists of 2-1/2 floors and nine rooms.

Click here for more information on the Besty Ross House.

Besty Ross, Besty Ross House, American Flag, five pointed star

Happy Forth of July everyone!!!

We may celebrate the Forth, but there were a lot of other important dates before and after that, involving our countries independence.
New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775. The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 4, 1776. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously, but secretly, for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 2. The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until a little after eleven o’clock, July 4, when the twelve colonies voted for adoption and released a copy signed only by John Hancock, President of the Congress, to the printers. (The New York delegation abstained from both votes.)
Philadelphia celebrated the Declaration with public readings and bonfires on July 8. Not until August 2 would a fair printing be signed by the members of the Congress, but even that was kept secret to protect the members from British reprisals.
But it was on July 4th that Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret votes. And that is why we celebrate on the 4th of July.

Honoring the Day
In 1777, Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary with an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white and blue bunting. All familiar traditions we still carry out today.
In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day a holiday, albeit unpaid, for federal employees. But in 1941, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day a federal paid holiday.

So don we now our patriotic apparel, as we enjoy a day of relaxing, barbequeing, and of course, FIREWORKS! (let’s just hope the weather clears up around here).
And a reminder for this evening’s activities, see America’s Birthday: Philly Style or visit Phillyfunguide.com or the official Welcome America site. And tune into 6ABC for full live coverage of tonights celebration.

4th of july, forth of july, July forth, july 4th, Independence day