A million college students and visitors have annually taken up residence in Philadelphia, tended to business, then gone home. They overheard scraps of history and unfamiliar names, strolled past curious buildings of whose history they knew very little. This website is for their recollections, recognizing how ex-residents often retain curiosity about these Quaker Colonies, even from a distance.

Future visitors need a weekend guide to the funny city where they find themselves; their affection for the town may be more enduring than they expect. It's also gratifying to sense possessive local patriotism by working class Philadelphians, the people who talk about "Philly" instead of "fa-Delf-ya" but are no less owners of the place. Because of shyness, they seem to prefer to hear history from a single voice, even though multi-voice encyclopedias often contain more precision.

We begin with a five-day study tour. There's first a one-day walking tour of the center city district, which owns America's most historic square mile. It's helpful that William Penn laid out the streets with a compass, numbered streets North-South, streets named after trees East-West. Next, one-day driving tours both to the North where Washington and Howe did battle, and to the Welsh Barony along the Main Line, going West. Finally, a two-day tour down the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay, across the Bay by ferry, home along the state of Delaware side. That's the four points of the compass, with a city in the center.

But by no means the full extent of what's fascinating. If there's time, take a Sunday excursion along the upper Delaware on the Riverline railroad. Or, a trip up the King's Highway and back down the Jersey coastline of beaches. A ride on the Paoli Local, or the Chestnut Hill Local. House tours, garden tours, architectural tours, and some descriptive visits inside the big law firms, the big hospitals, and the many volunteer organizations.

We firmly believe in our Trinity: the Brotherhood of Man, the Fatherhood of God, and, the Neighborhood of Philadelphia. We hope you will, too.

• Historical Preservation The 20% federal tax credit for historic preservation is said to have been the special pet of Senator Lugar of Indiana. Much of the recent transformation of Philadelphia's downtown is attributed to this incentive.
• Tourist Walk in Olde Philadelphia Colonial Philadelphia can be seen in a hard day's walk, if you stick to the center of town.
• Historical Motor Excursion North of Philadelphia The narrow waist of New Jersey was the upper border of William Penn's vast land holdings, and the outer edge of Quaker influence. In 1776-77, Lord Howe made this strip the main highway of his attempt to subjugate the Colonies.
• Land Tour Around Delaware Bay Start in Philadelphia, take two days to tour around Delaware Bay. Down the New Jersey side to Cape May, ferry over to Lewes, tour up to Dover and New Castle, visit Winterthur, Longwood Gardens, Brandywine Battlefield and art museum, then back to Philadelphia. Try it!
• Philadelphia's West Country Like all cities, Philadelphia is filling in and choking up with subdivisions and development, in all directions from the center. The last place to fill up is the Welsh Barony, a tip of which can be said to extend all the way in town to the Art Museum.
• To Germantown, a Short Appreciation Seven miles from the heart of Philadelphia, Germantown was once a separate town, the cultural center of Germans in America. Revolutionary battles were fought here, it was briefly the capital of the United States, and it still has an outstanding collection of schools and colleges.
• Custom Tour of Private Philadelphia Philadelphia Hospitality, a non-profit group, puts together the following tour for visiting bigwigs. A good guide to what's best around here.
• America's Historic Square Mile (pre-1800) Society Hill: Philadelphia's authentic colonial area, from the Delaware River west to 8th Street the limit of settlement in 1776, but for a while the center of America. The richest, most famous men in America lived within a few blocks of each other. Things happened here.
• Downtown A discussion about downtown area in Philadelphia and connections from today with its historical past.
• Sights to See: The Outer Ring There are many interesting places to visit in the exurban ring beyond Philadelphia, linked to the city by history rather than commerce.
• Delaware (State of) Originally the "lower counties" of Pennsylvania, and thus one of three Quaker colonies founded by William Penn, Delaware has developed its own set of traditions and history.
• Philadelphia's Middle Urban Ring Philadelphia grew rapidly for seventy years after the Civil War, then gradually lost population. Skyscrapers drain population upwards, suburbs beckon outwards. The result: a ring around center city, mixed prosperous and dilapidated. Future in doubt.
• West of Broad A collection of articles about the area west of Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• North of Market The term once referred to the Quaker district along Arch Street, and then to a larger district that had its heyday after the Civil War, industrialized, declined, and is now our worst urban problem area.
• The Park and Beyond Fairmount Park is large enough to split the City from its suburbs, and is partly a playground, partly a museum. East Falls, Germantown and Chestnut Hill are almost a separate world on the far side of the park.