President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

SITE OVERVIEW

The President’s House Site at Independence National Historical Park marks the location of America’s first “White House.” This was the home of presidents George Washington and John Adams between 1790 and 1800 when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital. Because Washington was a slave owner and brought slaves with him, the exhibit is as much a slavery memorial as it is a commemoration of the house.

LOCATION

The President’s House Site is on the corner of Market and 6^th Street.

OPERATING HOURS

• Daily from 7 AM to 10 PM

TICKETS AND FEES

There are no tickets or fees associated with the President’s House Site exhibit.

WHAT TO DO

The President’s House Site marks the location of a house that George Washington, his family, paid servants, and slaves lived in from 1790 to 1797, and John Adams, his wife, and paid servants lived in from 1797 until the capital moved to Washington, D. C., in 1800. A brick “ghost” structure indicates the location of the main house and the president’s private office, plus a wall of the servant’s dining room and kitchen. These partial outlines of the building correspond to actual foundations discovered during a 2007 excavation of the property. The rest of the house—stable hand quarters, coach house, stable, ice house—are marked by a floor of gray stone slabs that contrast to the red brick walkways outside of the house structure. Much of the coach house, stable, and ice house was covered up by the Liberty Bell Center, which opened in 2003.

President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

Interior of the President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

While it may seem dumbfounding to most people entering an exhibit comprised of a faux-façade of the President’s House, this exhibit is really about slavery, and in particular, George Washington and his slaves. The official title of the exhibit is The President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation. After an article came out publicizing Washington’s ownership of slaves, the black community was upset that the president’s house was being identified while there was no mention of the slaves who lived there. Compounding the outrage was the fact that the Liberty Bell Center—which in addition to housing the Liberty Bell was a museum dedicated to liberty—had been erected on the site. This resulted in a compromise in which the exhibit would be as much about slavery as it would be about the residence of the first two presidents of the United States.

There are no actual artifacts at the exhibit, but there are plenty of information panels to read. While the majority deal with slavery and the personal stories of some of George Washington’s slaves, there is also information on the house itself, its two presidential residents, and key legislation that was passed during the time Philadelphia was the nation’s capital.

Information panel on slavery at the President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

In addition to the written information are four videos that play on a continuous loop. Three of them are about Washington’s slaves, with one each on cook Hercules and house servant Oney Judge. Both escaped to freedom while living in Philadelphia. Another video is on the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic that wiped out nearly a tenth of the city’s population.

Video on Hercules, a slave who served as the Washington family’s cook, plays at the President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

 Visitors can also see part of the original house foundation. The area is enclosed in glass, and information panels line the four sides.

Foundation exhibit area at the President’s House in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

Remnants of the original President’s House foundation at the President’s House exhibit in Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park

A slavery memorial was erected on the spot of the stable hand quarters. This steel, glass, and wood plank structure is located very near to the Liberty Bell Center entrance.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Because the President’s House Site is outdoors and located directly between two of Independence National Historical Park’s key attractions, the Liberty Bell Center and Independence Visitor Center, it is the type of exhibit that visitors stop at for a few minutes just out of curiosity, not one that people purposely work into their tour schedule. However, if you want to read all of the information panels and watch the videos, plan to spend about 45 minutes at the site.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE AND EXHIBIT CONTROVERSY

The capital of the United States moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1790 and remained there for ten years before moving permanently to Washington, D. C. There was much debate about the location of the capital prior to this. The southern states wanted a capital on the Maryland-Virginia border, whereas the northern states preferred New York or Philadelphia. In exchange for Southern support of a bill that would allow the Federal government to assume the war debts of the states, it was agreed that a permanent capital would be located in what would become Washington, D. C., which at the time had not even been designed or developed. Philadelphia served as the interim capital.

The President’s House did not originate as a presidential residence. It was a private home built in 1767 by a wealthy widow named Mary Lawrence Masters. During the British occupation of Philadelphia from September 1777 to June 1778, the house was used as a headquarters by British commanders. Once the British left the city for New York, it became the headquarters of General Benedict Arnold, who had not yet defected. In 1781, just after the house was heavily damaged in a fire, Robert Morris, a financier of the Revolution, purchased the property and rebuilt the house, this time making it much larger. It is from Morris that the house was purchased by the Federal government.

After the capital moved, the house was converted to a hotel that operated until 1832, at which time it was torn down except for the east and west walls. These were used as part of a new construction of three retail stores. The stores remained standing until 1935 when they too were torn down, though for some reason a few sections of the original walls escaped the wrecking ball. Ironically, the walls finally met their demise in 1951 when they were demolished by the National Park Service in order to build Independence Mall, part of the new Independence National Historical Park. A restroom building was constructed on the site.

In 2000, plans for the new Liberty Bell Center were unveiled. The Independence Hall Association asked that the house foundation be outlined with bricks or stone laid in the pavement. The idea was strictly to bring the location of the President’s House to public attention. The National Park Service declined the proposal, stating that the stone outline would run right through the foyer of the Liberty Bell Center. It did, however, agree to outline a portion of the main house and place wayside exhibits at the site. The information was to pertain strictly to the house and its use as the residence of the first two presidents.

In 2002, an article came out in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography about George Washington’s ownership of slaves, something that had always been known but not really talked about in the history books. This sparked Black community groups to call for not only the house to be outlined as originally requested, but to make George Washington’s slave ownership the central theme of the exhibit. When the Liberty Bell Center opened in 2003, protesters marched in front of the new facility, noting the irony that a museum dedicated to liberty now sat on the ground where Washington’s slaves would have lived and worked. This drew further attention to the brewing controversy.

Now faced with having to create the new exhibit, from March through July 2007 the National Park Service conducted an archaeological excavation of the site. This is required when any Federal money is involved with building a new structure. The entire area had been dug up in the early 1950s when Independence Mall was constructed, so any remnants of the floor and walls of the original President’s House had most likely been destroyed at that time. It was, however, possible that the basement foundation of the main house may still exist since it would have been dug much deeper into the ground, but since the layout and location of the house was identified in historical documents, such a discovery would add nothing of significant value to what was already known. In fact, during the Mall excavation the remains of such a structure were found and mapped.

As for the rest of the house—kitchen, servant’s dining room, and stable related outbuildings—prior to the excavation there was no hope of finding any remnants of these structures since none of them had a basement. In fact, during the excavation of the Liberty Bell Center site, which included a small portion of the President’s House, all that was found was the floor and basement of the retail stores, which were much deeper in the ground than anything related to the outbuildings of the President’s House. Their construction would have demolished any remains of the older buildings.

An amazing thing happened once the excavation commenced. Archaeologists uncovered the foundation of the kitchen, a bow window that was added to the main house by Washington, and an underground passage that linked the kitchen to the state dining room. This new knowledge added significantly to what was known about the house. It also caused the dilemma of whether to proceed with the President’s House exhibit as already designed, ignoring the new findings, or to alter the plan and incorporate the findings, which would require raising more money.

There was also the argument over how to represent the slaves. Since they most likely lived and worked near what is now the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center, the National Park Service did not want to erect any type of memorial on that spot because it would interfere with entry into the building. After arguing back and forth over the design, plans were finalized—including a slave memorial and incorporating the new archaeological findings—and construction began in 2009. The project was completed and dedicated on December 15, 2010.

For more information on the controversy surrounding the President’s House exhibit, watch the following video.

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