Declaration House

This building is no longer open. There are no crowds, no lines, no hoopla. You can just walk by and never know the difference. It marks the spot where Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. I don’t know how long the current building has been there but almost everything wooden burned or fell apart long ago. Wooden buildings were outlawed early in Philadelphia history after too many burnt down they were declared to be fire hazards. SO what stands on the spot now is brick.
Yet you can stand back, gaze at the spot, and know that that space up above that corner is where Jefferson wrote our Declaration of Independence. Still amazing!

This is a very cool and historically significant place, and they’ve done a great job interpreting the rooms Jefferson rented. The first floor exhibit was small, but it got the point across. The second floor was good as far as the historic rooms Jefferson rented, but then there was another section that I didn’t quite understand. Maybe they’re making improvements or changing the exhibit? I was very disappointed, but the park ranger saved my experience for sure. She caught me as I was walking around the gift shop about to leave, and we ended up talking for a while. Without her explanations, the house was really missing a lot of information. Be sure to talk with the park ranger on duty! I think they need to have more than one person there, but maybe I was just there at a busy time (there was one other family of three people there at the same time). Regardless, if you like American history, it’s worth a trip!

Hate to give the place where THE document was drafted low marks, but the whole experience is pretty lame.
First of all, the winter «hours» are Wednesday — Sunday: 11AM — 12 noon. Yes, ONE HOUR. That’s FIVE hours total for the entire week. The first time we came to visit, we got screwed by this, so don’t make the same mistake. If you’re lucky enough to make it in, you’ll be greeted by a huge bust of old TJ (as girlfriend likes to call him). Explore a little further and you’ll find rooms that discuss the history of the DOI (another girlfriend term), including a very dated documentary that you can start up by pressing the big green button outside the room.
Head on upstairs to view recreations of the rooms just as they might have looked when TJ was carefully drafting this most sacred document. It’s unfortunate that none of the pieces are original, but it at least gives you an idea of how it all looked when it all went down.
Despite my two star rating, you should at least stop by for a few minutes if only to say «you were there.» Just don’t expect much.