INHP runs north into Old City , Philadelphia's earliest commercial area, above Market Street near the riverfront. Washington, Franklin and Betsy Ross all worshiped at Christ Church , on 2nd Street just north of Market Street. Dating from 1727, it is surrounded by the gravestones of signatories to the Declaration of Independence (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; donation). The church's official burial ground, two blocks west at 5th and Arch, includes Benjamin Franklin's grave . At 239 Arch St, the Betsy Ross House (daily 10am-5pm; donation; tel 215/686-1252), by means of unimpressive wax dummies, salutes the woman credited with making the first American flag. The story is probably apocryphal, as it wasn't until the centennial celebrations in 1876 that a man claiming to be Ross's grandson came forward to stake her claim. Even if she did live at 239 Arch St, the building that currently holds that address was not her home; the streets have been extensively renamed and renumbered since the Revolution. Inside the house, there's a gift shop and shady garden , an oasis away from the busy streets outside.

The claim of Elfreth's Alley - a pretty little cobbled way off 2nd Street between Arch and Race streets - to be the "oldest street in the United States" is somewhat dubious but it has been in continuous residential use since 1727, and its thirty houses, notable for their wrought-iron gates, water pumps, wooden shutters and attic rooms, date from the eighteenth century. No. 126 is the Mantua Maker's Museum where furniture was made for Philadelphia's elite in the eighteenth century (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm; $2; tel 215/574-0560).

The area north of Market Street also holds two excellent museums: the National Museum of American Jewish History , 55 N 5th St (Mon-Thurs 10am-5pm, Fri 10am-3pm, Sun noon-5pm; $3; tel 215/923-3811), which is dedicated to the experiences of Jews in the States and includes a synagogue; and the emotive and politically informed African American Museum in Philadelphia , 7th and Arch streets (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $6; tel 215/574-0380). The latter tells the stories of the thousands of blacks who migrated north to Philadelphia after Reconstruction and in the early twentieth century. As well as lectures, films and concerts, there are photos, personal memorabilia, poems by black poet Langston Hughes and a piped-in Billie Holiday soundtrack. The Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site , 532 N 7th St, just north of Spring Garden Street (daily 9am-5pm; free; tel 215/597-8780), is the only one of Poe's five Philadelphia residences that survives; it's also where he wrote The Black Cat in 1843. The stripped-down walls and bare wood floors do little to evoke Poe's presence - and despite local efforts, restoration plans have still yet to get under way. However, if you're a true Poe fanatic, the staff in the small museum adjacent to the house can answer almost any Poe-related question. If you're keen on literary pilgrimages, you might also want to visit the grave of another key figure of American letters, Walt Whitman ; he's buried in the Harleigh Cemetery, on Haddon Avenue across the river in Camden, New Jersey.

Old City

• Old City

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