On Saturday, October 21st, I went to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia with the Honors Program. I was looking forward to this trip for weeks; I never miss an opportunity to visit Philly and I love learning about history. So I really didn’t mind waking up at 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning to make the bus at 9:15. When I got to the Arts and Sciences building, I was pleased to see that we would be taking a charter bus (since I had assumed we would be driving into Philly on a regular school bus). I got a whole two-seater to myself and slept for the entire 45 minute drive. I woke up when we reached what I thought was our destination, but the driver actually made a mistake and we ended up at a different museum. Slightly annoyed but also glad to that I could return to resting my eyes, I fell back asleep until we reached our actual destination less than ten minutes later.
I could tell from the moment the bus pulled in front of the museum that this would be a good trip. Even the museum entrance looked impressive with an engraved granite sign reading “Museum of the American Revolution” topped with decorative 18th century canons seemingly guarding the doors. The cherry on top, though, was that each student gained admission free of charge since the Honors Program paid for each $19.00 ticket in advance. This may not seem like a lot of money, but to a broke college student $19.00 is a lot of money. Even though we didn’t have a tour guide to show us around, the museum was easy to navigate. Looking through the exhibits, it was refreshing to learn about more than just white men, who are quite often the main focus of American history textbooks. African Americans, Native Americans, and women had whole exhibits to themselves. One of my favorites was an exhibit that played a short film about the Native American struggle on a large screen behind life-like Native American mannequins. I also enjoyed learning about women who contributed to the British war effort, such as Baroness von Riedesel who joined her husband, a ranking army general, in America during the war and helped to care for injured soldiers. But the very last exhibit was my favorite. I was told prior to the trip that Washington’s tent was on display, but I never realized how historically significant his tent was. The museum showed a documentary on Washington’s role in the Revolutionary war before showcasing his tent to the audience, which I think made a big impact on both myself and the people around me. It was really eye-opening to see such a symbolic artifact of American freedom in person.
After the museum, we were free to walk around Old City. The bus left to return to Stockton at 3:30, but I stayed behind and explored more of Philly with my family. We visited the Second Bank of the United States, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. I’m thankful for the experience the Honors Program provided and I look forward to going on more trips in the future.