Religion and Freedom in Historic Germantown

Join us for a fun in-person tour exploring Germantown’s rich history of religious freedom!

This two-hour walking tour follows Germantown Avenue along the northern edge of the Germantown Colonial Historic District, highlighting the various religious and intellectual groups who were present in early Germantown, including Quakers, Mennonites, Moravians, Reformed Lutherans, and natural scientists. This tour will include the site of the Battle of Germantown and an episode during which Benjamin Franklin's militia confronted vigilantes in Germantown to protect the religious freedom and lives of Lenape Moravian converts. Germantown was a site of early abolitionism and an early version of the Underground Railroad, as well as a hub for early American free thinkers and scientists who observed and cataloged the natural order. The tour will be led by Kime Lawson, professor at Thomas Jefferson University.

Location: The walking tour begins at the Franz Daniel Pastorius Statue in Vernon Park at 5800 Germantown Avenue and ends in the vicinity of the Clivedon (Benjamin Chew House) at 6401 Germantown Ave.