Neighborhood · Old City, Philadelphia
Old City, on foot.
Old City is the square mile of Philadelphia where the country was argued into existence. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the First Continental Congress, the homes of Franklin and Betsy Ross — all of it fits into roughly ten walkable blocks, and Society Hill Hotel sits in the middle of them.
Then
The neighborhood that built the country.
William Penn laid out Philadelphia in 1682 on a grid of streets and five public squares. What’s now called Old City — roughly Front to 6th, Walnut to Vine — was the original commercial and civic core. By the mid-1700s it was the largest city in the British colonies and, briefly, the second-largest English-speaking city in the world after London.
The Revolution was argued, declared, and framed here. The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters’ Hall in 1774. The Declaration was adopted at the Pennsylvania State House in 1776. The Constitution was written in the same room eleven years later. Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison all walked these blocks.
Now
A working neighborhood, not a theme park.
Old City today is still residential — people live on Elfreth’s Alley, in 18th-century rowhouses, on the same cobblestone blocks the founders used. It has independent galleries, old taverns, a working ferry, and a restaurant scene that has quietly become one of the strongest in the Northeast.
Which is the argument for staying here instead of near the Convention Center or on Broad Street: you’re inside the neighborhood, not next to it. Every site below is within a six-minute walk of our front door.
What’s walkable
12 attractions. All within six minutes on foot.
Benjamin Franklin Museum
Franklin's own courtyard, literally across the street.
2 min walk · 317 Chestnut St
Carpenters' Hall
Where the First Continental Congress met in 1774.
2 min walk · 320 Chestnut St
Museum of the American Revolution
The definitive museum of the Revolution, opened 2017.
2 min walk · 101 S 3rd St
Second Bank of the United States
A Greek Revival temple housing the NPS portrait gallery.
2 min walk · 420 Chestnut St
Independence Hall
The room where the Declaration and the Constitution were signed.
4 min walk · 520 Chestnut St
Christ Church
The Episcopal church where Washington, Franklin, and Betsy Ross worshipped.
3 min walk · 20 N American St
Liberty Bell Center
The cracked bell and the story it's told for 250 years.
5 min walk · 526 Market St
Betsy Ross House
A small 18th-century rowhouse tied to the country's first flag.
5 min walk · 239 Arch St
Washington Square
A quiet public square and Revolutionary War burial ground.
5 min walk · 210 W Washington Square
Penn's Landing
The Delaware River waterfront — seasonal events, Spruce Street Harbor.
6 min walk · 101 S Columbus Blvd
National Constitution Center
The only museum in the country dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.
7 min walk · 525 Arch St
Elfreth's Alley
The oldest continuously inhabited residential street in America.
6 min walk · 126 Elfreth's Aly
Planning a visit
Four minutes to Independence Hall. Six to the river. Zero to the restaurant downstairs.
The hotel is at 301 Chestnut Street, between 3rd and 4th. Most of the sites above are to the west (toward Independence Hall) or to the north (toward Elfreth’s Alley and Christ Church). If you only have one day in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Museum of the American Revolution are the three we send people to first.