Tuesday, August 4, 2015

1725, Tue, 080415. West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Our day started off with a bang. Litterally a bunch of big bangs. A thunder storm rolled through just before dawn lighting up the skies and echoing through the hills. Time to get up.
We picked up a tour of Philadelphia rather than do it on our own. It really would have been hard to find our way around, find parking, find the tours, etc, etc. It worked out great. There were five of us so it was a small group. Independence Hall (the meeting place for the second Continental Congress) was on the tour and of course the Liberty Bell. The tour guide came up with the fact that there were 38 present at the signing of the Constitution but they ended up with 39 signatures. Apparently one of the delegates had to go home early due to illness so they signed for him. Who was this delegate? We also walked down the street to the Carpenter's Hall, the meeting place of the first Continental Congress. Philly wasn't real keen on the idea of letting these rebels meet in their city hall so second best was offered up at Carpenter's Hall. We also made a stop at Christ Church. The leader of that church was thrown in prison when the British discovered he had broken ties with the Church of England and started his own church.
We stopped for lunch and had an official Philly cheesesteak. Pretty tasty.
At Betsy Ross's house we ran into Betsy. The lady was excellent telling the story of how Washington had come to her to see if she would make the flags for the ships. Washington felt the current flag looked too much like the British flag so changed the design of the stars. He really wanted a six point star, like the star of David, though Betsy had a way of folding the cloth so that with one tiny snip of the scissors she could make a five point star. Funny how little things change the world in big ways.
We visited the Valley Forge site to see where Washington held up for the winter. On the way back to the campground we went through a tiny town where there were remains of what was once a tavern. Story goes that two guys were having an ale. They looked out the window and saw the Redcoats coming. They hurried off to where they thought Washington was and almost got thrown in jail for treason because he didn't believe theri story. They finally convinced George they were on the up and up and although George didn't win the squirmish he didn't lose everything. That could have been the end of the Revolution.
One last tidbit; The saying, Flash in the pan, comes from having wet powder thus having a miss fire with your rifle. The spark makes a big flash then goes out......more later..