About this property
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. 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. When the burial ground is closed, Benjamin Franklin's gravesite is visible 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 citizens from Boston criticized the city's maintenance of the grave and erected a Franklin statue there. Leaving pennies on Franklin's grave is a long-standing Philadelphia tradition. John Andrews, (1746-1813), fourth Provost of the University of Pennsylvania Michael Woolston Ash (1789–1858), U.S. Congressman Samuel John Atlee (1739–1786), delegate to the Continental Congress Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769–1798), grandson of Benjamin Franklin, printer and publisher of the Aurora newspaper Sarah Franklin Bache (1743–1808), daughter of Benjamin Franklin William Bainbridge (1774–1833), Navy hero of War of 1812 and captain of the USS Constitution" Francis Biddle (1886–1968), former U.S. attorney general James Biddle (1783–1848), Commodore in United States Navy Thomas Bond (1713–1784), co-founder (with Benjamin Franklin) of Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital Paul Busti (1749-1824), Agent General of the Holland Land Company Major General George Cadwalader (1806–1879), American Civil War general John Cadwalader (1805–1879), congressman and judge Matthew Clarkson (1733–1800), mayor of Philadelphia Tench Coxe (1755–1824), Continental Congress delegate William Henry Drayton (1742-1799), Continental Congress delegated and signer of the Articles of Confederation
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Christ Church Burial Ground
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Questions about this property
When was Christ Church Burial Ground listed on the National Register?
Christ Church Burial Ground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 23, 1971.
What type of historic resource is Christ Church Burial Ground?
Christ Church Burial Ground is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Christ Church Burial Ground?
The period of significance for Christ Church Burial Ground is recorded as the pre_contact era.
Can I research the history near Christ Church Burial Ground?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Christ Church Burial Ground will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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