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July 02, 2006

Blogbat Publicitus: Day 6

Photoblogging America’s 230^th Birthday

 

 

Fun and fireworks last night at Penn’s Landing – where William Penn came ashore after navigating the Delaware River in 1682. As mentioned in previous posts, Penn later founded the town of Philadelphia. Penn's landing is on the Philadelphia bank of the Delaware River and lies just across from Camden, New Jersey. The Penn's Landing celebration begins in late June and continues through the second day of July. This firework show was definitely one of the best and longest I've seen, and the history and tidy waterfront setting make it all the better.

 

 

This is a shot of the Christ Church steeple, as shot from the ramp above Penn’s Landing. Christ Church is one of the oldest churches in Philadelphia. This is the same steeple which two centuries ago welcomed weary seafaring travelers. The church was completed in 1754 and was the house of worship for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, Francis Hopkinson, Robert Morris, and their families, along with others. During and after the revolution, as with other buildings, the various busts and bas reliefs depicting English royalty were removed from the church, with only one of King George II remaining. On July 4, 1788 – 218 years ago – the bells of Christ Church tolled the whole day to celebrate the ratification of the US Constitution – now the oldest and most continuously active, and most wondrous legal document in the history of men.

 

 

 

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge (built in 1926) and the bow of the Gazela (a 177 foot long rigged Portuguese fishing vessel built in 1883).

 

 

 

The famous heroic WWII battleship the U.S.S. New Jersey (pictured), along with the WWII submarine U.S.S. Becuna on the New Jersey side, and the Spanish-American War era U.S.S. Olympia at Penn’s Landing are some of the featured landmarks along the river, together with some modern Naval faire. We’ll be exploring these ships later in the week and posting some much better photos.

 

 

 

At last, a better view of where we were shooting pictures of the fireworks – from the air conditioned comfort of the Hyatt Regency, filling our bellies and watching the throngs of people flood by outside. Those walls didn’t obstruct the view of the fireworks as much as these photos would seem – it was a spectacular show!

 

 

Posted by Martin at July 2, 2006 11:08 AM

Comments

Posted by: Angel at July 2, 2006 02:55 PM