Ben Franklin was here

Well...it's not the most high-minded connection to history, but it's pretty funny that the National Park Service marked where Ben Franklin went to the bathroom. Privy pits are actually quite useful to archaeologists, because people threw away all sorts of trash into them--often pipes, broken pottery, or cooking leftovers. This privy is located right behind Franklin's grandson's print shop on Market Street in Old City. Behind the shop is a courtyard with two metal frames outlining where Franklin's house and shop would have been. How did archaeologists know this was the privy? Usually, by slight gradations in soil color that are revealed as they dig--and by all of the trash.

The remains of a 3-year dig at the site of the near-by National Constitution Center are being sorted around the corner from here at the Independence Living History Center. The large block where the museum is now located was once a busy neighborhood with a mix of socioeconomic classes and even races. The pottery that's being pieced together at the Center is indicative of this--some tables are full of plain, chunky bowls, while others have delicate blue and white (I assume delftware) tea cups.

My visit to Old City also included a stop at the Arch Street Meeting House, a walk through Elfreth's Alley and talks with some reenactors and storytellers. There's a surprisingly large area of 18th-century buildings that are still around, some of which are now private homes or offices. I also managed to make a stop for lunch at a Philly cheesesteak place called Campo's Deli (check out their website, there is actually a video of the making of their sandwiches). I got an enormous vegetarian wrap then headed toward home--all of this, without getting lost!

George Washington in the news

Retired Gen. George Washington Criticizes Bush's Handling Of Iraq War

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Revolutionary War veteran noted that while Hussein was a tyrant, that alone did not justify a "conflict that seems without design or end."

Good old George Washington made a couple of headlines this week. The first, of course, is a farce, but a very clever one. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't bring out more clearly Washington's isolationist view of foreign policy. In his farewell address, he said:

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop...If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance..."

Washington also made the news up in my home-to-be of Philadelphia. Growing up in Washington, D.C., I always thought of Washington's home as Mount Vernon. But he also lived in Philadelphia when the capital was located there, and apparently the National Park Service is excavating his home. Archaeologists have found "an underground passageway where slaves slipped in and out of the main house, so they wouldn't be seen by Washington's guests." Apparently Adams also lived in this house, and I have to wonder what he would have thought of having slave quarters in his residence. The website for the site has a live webcam of the dig plus a lot of information on slavery at the house.