Religious Freedom in Early Philadelphia

This tour of historic Philadelphia highlights the religious and cultural diversity of the city where the nation’s founding documents were written. This tour covers sites in Old City Philadelphia and will include visits to several houses of worship (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) and entrance inside two of them (depending upon availability). The tour also includes sites where religion was practiced and proclaimed in public spaces such as Washington Square and Carpenter’s Hall by a wide array of the city’s residents, including enslaved and free people of African descent, white colonial elites, and itinerant preachers. We will uncover the interfaith roots of Philadelphia’s most cherished institutions, such as America’s first university and public hospital. The tour will explore the influence of William Penn’s religiously diverse colony on constitutional debates about religious freedom that continue to this day.

Location: The walking tour typically begins at the Independence Visitors Center near Independence Hall.