Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia PA

This was our bonus museum of the trip. The Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia, PA, is located in the historic district, just a few blocks from Independence Hall. Yesterday was Flag Day...so, of course since Betsy made our original flag...there were going to be lots of activities taking place in her home and the small park connected to it. Only, we were apparently there too early for the festivities so we went into the gift shop to find out about purchasing tickets. By the appearance of the outside of the house, we could tell it was very small and we opted against paying the $28 for our family to go inside. We were just going to have to be content with looking around the patio garden area and moving on.

Apparently, our hesitancy and obvious touristy appearance paid off...because the bonus of our trip is that a woman asked if we'd been inside yet and I replied that we had not. She then said something like, "Well come on!" I informed her that we had not purchased tickets to which she responded, "I don't care...come on in!"

So we did!

It is an extremely cute...and cozy...house. One of the informational plaques told how at one point, Betsy's widowed daughter moved into the house with her five children while expecting her sixth! I don't know where they put them in this two bedroom house. And I really should have taken a photo of one of the stairwells. I don't know how women in long, full-length skirts went up and down steep, spiral staircases that were maybe only two and a half feet long with a narrow side only about three inches deep. It was slow going, I'm sure.

We even found Betsy sewing in one of the basement rooms and she was pleasant, informative and humorous too. She showed Leah how to cut out a star with only two snips of the shears. It was definitely an interesting place to visit and we were thankful for the blessing of seeing it for free.

I have to add a side note that all throughout our trip, I kept expecting to encounter the "typical" rude East Coast people I've always heard about. The woman that let us into the Betsy Ross house is just one example of the exact opposite. In both Philly and NYC we were offered assistance repeatedly (one man in Philly went so far as to pull over to the side of the road when we were looking at one of the directional signs!), had polite dining staff everywhere we went and came away with a much better appreciation for the East Coast people we met. Of course, we met with rude ones as well...but no more than any other place we've been. In fact...I'm just beginning to think that may be a pre-requisite to work at McDonald's...whether it's in Times Square or the Florence Mall. [Exceptions of Gabby Adams and Sam Korn duly noted!]