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Content Published January 16, 2021

Independence Hall

Independence Hall touts a red brick facade, designed in Georgian style. It consists of a central building with belltower and steeple, attached to two smaller wings via arcaded hyphens. The highest point to the tip of the steeple spire is 168 feet 7 1⁄4 inches (51.391 m) above the ground.

The State House was built between 1732 and 1753, designed by Edmund Woolley and Andrew Hamilton, and built by Woolley. Its construction was commissioned by the Pennsylvania colonial legislature which paid for construction as funds were available, so it was finished piecemeal. It was initially inhabited by the colonial government of Pennsylvania as its State House, from 1732 to 1799.

In 1752, when Isaac Norris was selecting a man to build the first clock for the State House, today known as Independence Hall, he chose Thomas Stretch, the son of Peter Stretch his old friend and fellow council member, to do the job. In 1753 Stretch erected a giant clock at the building's west end that resembled a tall clock (grandfather clock). The 40-foot-tall (12 m) limestone base was capped with a 14-foot (4.3 m) wooden case surrounding the clock's face, which was carved by Samuel Harding. The giant clock was removed about 1830. The clock's dials were mounted at the east and west ends of the main building connected by rods to the clock movement in the middle of the building. A new clock was designed and installed by Isaiah Lukens in 1828. The Lukens clock ran consecutively for eight days, "with four copper dials on each side that measured eight feet in diameter and clockworks that ensured sufficient power to strike the four-thousand pound bell made by John Wilbank." The Lukens clock remained in Independence Hall until 1877.

The acquisition of the original clock and bell by the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly is closely related to the acquisition of the Liberty Bell. By mid-1753, the clock had been installed in the State House attic, but six years were to elapse before Thomas Stretch received any pay for it. (wwikipedia)

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Content Published January 9, 2021

Ferris Wheel

A Ferris wheel (or a big wheel in the United Kingdom) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, capsules, gondolas, or pods) attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity.

The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The generic term Ferris wheel, now used in American English for all such structures, has become the most common type of amusement ride at state fairs in the United States.

The current tallest Ferris wheel is the 167.6-metre (550 ft) High Roller in Las Vegas, Nevada, which opened to the public in March 2014. (wikipedia)

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Content Published January 9, 2021

Winter Garden Dilworth PArk

Winter Garden Dilworth Park this year are packed with whimsically-crafted reindeer topiaries, seasonal plantings and an open-air layout

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Content Published January 9, 2021

Reindeer Topriary

Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes,[1] whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. As an art form it is a type of living sculpture. The word derives from the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, topiarius, a creator of topia or "places", a Greek word that Romans also applied to fictive indoor landscapes executed in fresco. (wikipedia)

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Content Published January 8, 2021

Torn and Broken

Without knowing that mass stormed the Capitol that afternoon, I took this pictures, wondering what people do really think of this torn and broken flag every time they saw it.

What an awful coincidence.,...

It really hurts so much and left a deep scar in every heart. Not only that eyes are crying, but heart is also bleeding......

America, like this flag, we are torn and broken now as a nation.

Remember... "United we stand, divided we fall"

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Content Published January 5, 2021

Cruiser Olympia ( white)

Length: 344 feet

Beam: 53 feet

Displacement: 5,870 tons

Crew: 33 Officers, 396 enlisted men\

Top Speed: 22 knots (25mph)

Coal Consumption at Top Speed: 633 lbs./minute

History and Significance

Launched in 1892, Cruiser Olympia (C-6) is the oldest steel warship afloat in the world and is one of only two ships left from World War I (the other being Battleship Texas).

The ship was placed into commission by the United States Navy for the first time in February 1895 as a state-of-the-art man of war. In the years since, she continues to serve her country as a monument to American genius and ingenuity but also as a public memorial to those who gave their lives in service to their country.

Cruiser Olympia rose to fame as Commodore (later Admiral) George Dewey’s flagship during the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. This battle not only marked the beginning of the Spanish-American War, but also positioned America’s Navy as a world power. Fittingly, her final act of service was the transportation of the American Unknown Soldier of World War I from France to the United States in 1921. The soldier now lies entombed at Arlington National Cemetery. As Olympia was the most famous vessel of the time period, the selection served as a way to commemorate both the ship’s and soldier’s service.

In between her first and last missions, she served as part of the Northern Expedition and brought the first armed Americans ever to land on Russian soil. Additionally, she provided humanitarian aid in the Adriatic and was charged with dispensing food, aid, and medicine to communities affected by the flu epidemic that broke out in Europe at the end of World War I.

Over Olympia’s 27-year service life, which saw two wars and the administration of six presidents, thousands of Americans served aboard as commissioned officers and enlisted sailors. Like other vessels of the U.S. Navy, she was a microcosm of the American population. Her racially diverse crew largely represented the many ethnic and cultural differences from Europe, East Asia, and Africa. These differences brought a unique and personal richness to Olympia’s illustrious and storied career. Technology

Olympia’s design comes out of a period known as the New Steel Navy, an era in American ship design from the late 1880s through the early 1900s. She was one of the first ships to be equipped with refrigeration and radio communication systems, and one of the first to use steam for a multitude of tasks. Of note, a Fessenden oscillator, an early sonar system, was installed in 1917. The oscillator aboard Olympia is the only example of this type of sonar known to still exist.

(www.phillyseaport.org)

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Content Published January 5, 2021

Moshulu Restaurant

History (Pronounced Mo-shu’-lu)

The “legendary” Moshulu is indeed the world’s oldest and largest square rigged sailing vessel still afloat. She is in fact the one and only restaurant venue on a Tall Ship today in the World. Built by William Hamilton & Co., Port of Glasgow, Scotland in 1904 for the G.J.H Siemers Co. of Hamburg, Germany as the four-masted barque Kurt. This “state-of-the-art” sailing ship was the finest and latest of man’s achievement in the world’s shipbuilding industry for the construction of bulk or packaged cargo sailing ships.

With her impressive dimensions of 359 ft. in length (on deck), 47 ft. in breadth and of 3,116 gross tons, the Moshulu ex Kurt began her colorful career carrying coal to Chilean ports (via Cape Horn) and returning to Hamburg with some 5,000 long tons of nitrate followed by several voyages laden with coke and patent fuel to Santa Rosalia, Baha California, again returning with a full cargo of nitrate. With 34 sails equaling 45,000 sq. ft., the Moshulu’s route to Australia took her around Cape Horn a remarkable 54 times without incident, with a crew compliment of 35 men maximum.

In 1912, her routes changed to carrying coal from Newcastle, Australia to Chilean ports and again bringing valuable nitrate to Germany. On her last voyage under the Siemers Co., she discharged coke and fuel at Santa Rosalia, then sailed for Astoria, Oregon for orders intending to sail from Portland with grain, when the voyage was interrupted by World War I in 1917. In an American Port, the U.S. Navy confiscated the Ship as prize booty and kept her in commission, temporarily named Dreadnaught meaning “fearless” after the famous clipper ships of the time.

Re-named the Moshulu by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson (of Indian extraction herself) to honor the native American (Seneca Indian Tribe) meaning “One who Fears Nothing” and now under American flag, the refurbished barque loaded 2,400,000 board feet of lumber for Sidney, Australia, returning to San Francisco with 16,867 bales of wool, but not before out sailing a steam powered German raider while quelling a suspected mutiny among traitorous members of the crew. Following several successful voyages to Australia and the Philippines with steel, lumber and cased gasoline and returning with hemp, sugar, copra and coconut oil, the Moshulu was acquired by the Charles Nelson Co. of San Francisco, a lumber firm, for $40,000 and sailed as a lumber carrier to and from South Africa and San Pedro, California until 1931; where she was laid up in Winslow, Bainbridge Island, Washington for four long colorless years due to the advent of the more economical steam carriers and the 1929 decline of the lumber trade.

Another saving grace in 1935, when she was the purchased for $12,000 by Gustaf Erickson of Finland, a successful ship owner of 25 vessels, 11 four-masted barque windjammers, who had found profits in bringing grain from Australia in a fleet of iron and steel. Sailing ships, including the Moshulu, Herzogin Cecilie, Archibald Russell, Pamir, Parma, Pommern, Killoran, Winterhude, Olivebank and other great ships that became famous as the “grain race” barques of the mid and late thirties. On June 10, 1938, the very last grain race of square-rigged sailing ships between Australia and Europe was won by the Moshulu while carrying 59,000 bags of grain, weighing 4875 tons with a record speed of 16 knots in 91 days (15,000 miles) from Australia to Queenstown Cobh Ireland, under the Command of Master Captain Mikael Sjogren with a crew of 33, which included two Americans, J. Ferrell Colton of Molokai, Hawaii publisher of “Windjammer Significant” and John W. Albright of Long Beach, California, who would become a square rigged ship Captain himself. The first ship home would fetch the best price for their Aussie gold.

The outbreak of World War II in all its fury on September 3, 1939 had an immediate effect on Captain Erickson and his beautiful fleet when most of the gallant ships were laid up, except for one more grain voyage for the Moshulu from Buenos Aires to Norway. Her last pay load under sail and last trip as a Finnish Ship. In November 1942, as the ship lay in Kristiansand, Norway which was occupied by Nazi forces, the German troops confiscated the Moshulu and stripped of her masts and spars. Another barque of Erickson, the Olivebank was sunk in a German minefield with her Captain and 13 crew.

Through the “roaring” 40’s and early 50’s, the Moshulu experienced a rather sad variety of incidents. Shorn of masts and rig, these being destroyed by a bombardment, she broke her moorings, capsized in a gale near a beach close to shore off Narvik in 1947, only to be refloated and put into early retirement. She was then purchased by the Finnish State Granary in 1961 for 3,200 tons of Russian rye, only to become a grain storage hulk in Finland.

It was at the small and picturesque bay of Natali, Finland that Capt. Raymond E. Wallace found her as a storage hulk deeply laden with grain. Attracting the interest of David Tallichet of Specialty Restaurants Corp., the Moshulu was purchased to be restored and destined to become a museum-restaurant. Wallace contracted with a small yard in Scheveningen, Holland to fabricate masts, yards and standing rigging which were machine, not hand welded with lighter materials and had the ship towed to South Sea Seaport in New York. With the acquisition of the great barque Peking by South Street Seaport, in 1974 the Moshulu was moved to Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia to fulfill her new role as a restaurant.

Opening In 1975 as a restaurant, the Moshulu closed in 1989 after being damaged by a four-alarm fire. In 1994, the Moshulu was purchased by HMS Ventures, Inc.; and under Mrs. Dodo Hamilton of the Campbell’s Soup family, Moshulu was painstakingly restored in Camden to her original glory and opened as a restaurant on the Delaware River in 1996, docked at Pier 34 on Philadelphia’s waterfront.

In 2002 the Moshulu was relocated to its current location and opened its doors to the world again in May of 2003 by its current owners, SCC Restaurants LLC to gain recognition as an award winning, AAA 4 Diamond rated Restaurant, Bar and Deck.

Moshulu as a Movie Star The Moshulu was seen in the movie Rocky (shown during one of Rocky’s workout sessions along the Philadelphia waterfront) and in The Godfather Part II (bringing the young Vito Corleone to America in the early 1900’s,) as well as in the end scene of the movie Blow Out. (moshulu.com)

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Content Published January 5, 2021

Submarine Becuna ( green )

Length after GUPPY refit: 307 feet, 7 inches

Beam: 27 feet

Displacement: 1,800 tons surfaced, 2,400 tons submerged

Crew: 8 commissioned officers, 5 chief petty officers, 67 enlisted men

Top Speed after Guppy refit: 15 knots (17mph) submerged, 18 knots (21mph) surfaced

Submarine Becuna (SS-319) is a Balao-class submarine launched on January 30, 1944 at Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut after nine months of construction. She was commissioned on May 27, 1944 and sent immediately to the Pacific Ocean where she engaged the naval forces of Imperial Japan during World War II. Becuna completed five wartime patrols, sinking three and a half ships and earning four combat stars for her service.

Becuna returned to the United States in 1949 where she was reassigned from the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to the one located in New London, Connecticut. In 1951 she underwent modernization as part of the United States Navy's Greater Underwater Propulsion & Power Program, otherwise referred to as the GUPPY Program. Becuna was refitted with a Guppy 1A modification that included a streamlined hull, a hydrodynamic fairwater or "sail," upgraded batteries, and a snorkel system. Becuna is the only Guppy 1-A type submarine remaining anywhere in the world.

During the Cold War, Becuna was primarily a training vessel, station at the submarine school in New London, Connecticut. There she taught the next generation of submariners how to go to sea by completing training cruises and participating in NATO exercises. Becuna's service also took her to the Arctic Circle, the Mediterranean, and more where she conducted surveillance assignments against the Soviet Union, taking photographs of radar installations through per periscope and recording the sonar signature of Soviet submarines.

Becuna was finally decommissioned on November 7, 1969 after 25 years of service. She was made a museum in July 1976 as part of Philadelphia's celebration of the Bicentennial Celebration of the Declaration of Independence and moved to Penn's Landing to sit beside Cruiser Olympia. In 1996, Becuna became part of the collections at Independence Seaport Museum, where she resides today. Submarine Becuna is a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2001, Submarine Becuna received the American Welding Society's Historical Welded Structure Award as an official project of Save America's Treasures.

Submarine Becuna: A Deeper Dive audio tours are available free of charge. Provided on a handheld device or your own smartphone via mobile app, audio tours are a unique way to further experience and immerse yourself in the fascinating history and science of this National Historic Landmark ship. Available in English, French, Dutch, Mandarin and Spanish.

This project, Submarine Becuna: A Deeper Dive, has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Maritime Heritage program, administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior. This program received Federal financial assistance for preservation of historic maritime resources and for increasing public awareness and appreciation for the maritime heritage of the United States. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age of Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally funded assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240.

This project is supported by a grant through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

(/www.phillyseaport.org)

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Content Published December 12, 2020

George B. McCloellan

George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey

.Artist : Henry Jackson Ellicott (1894)

Type Bronze

Dimensions 4.42 m × 1.5 m × 4.6 m (14 ft 6 in × 5 ft × 15 ft) (wikipedia)

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Content Published December 8, 2020

The Visit Philadelphia Holiday tree @ Cityhall

The Visit Philadelphia Holiday Tree is a 60-year-old white fir standing 50 feet tall. It is adorned with more than 5,000 linear feet of lights and more than a dozen handcrafted ornaments. Two new Black Lives Matter ornaments have been added to the tree this year signifying the city's belief in social justice. The tree-topper is a 130-pound Liberty Bell. The base was created by artist David Korins, known for his work as set designer of Hamilton. (6abcnews)

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Content Published December 8, 2020

Holiday tree @ Chestnut walk

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Content Published December 5, 2020

Holiday tree at Rittenhouse Sq.

December is the month of decoration and celebration. Although it all starts with the same tradition ( tree lighting ceremony), each spot has their own style.

This holiday tree is quite small, and only decorated and lit by one color of lights. But it looked glowing and on fire after rain showers.

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Content Published December 5, 2020

Holiday tree at Cityhall

The annual tradition of lighting a national tree dates back to December 24, 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge pressed a button that lit up more than 2,500 light bulbs strung around a 60-ft.-tall balsam fir tree from his home state of Vermont—reportedly personally felled in “the heart of the Green Mountains” by Middlebury College’s President Paul D. Moody and shipped express to Washington by the school’s alumni.

This year's(2020) tree is a 60-year-old white fir from Yule Tree Farms in New York that's more than 50 feet tall. For the holidays, it will be decorated with multi-color lights and painted ornaments. Two ornaments honoring the Black Lives Matter movement in Philadelphia and across the country are included this year.

(times.com,.phillyvoice.com)

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Content Published December 5, 2020

Witherspoon Building

Witherspoon Building is a historic office building located in the Market East neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by architect Joseph M. Huston (1866–1940) and built between 1895 and 1897. It was built for the Presbyterian Board of Publications and Sabbath School Work. It is an 11-story, steel frame "E"-shaped building, faced with brick and granite. It has terra cotta decorative elements. Its exterior features Corinthian order and Ionic order columns, statues, medallions, seals of various boards and agencies of the Presbyterian Church and of related Reformed churches. It is named for John Witherspoon (1723–1794), a president of Princeton University.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. (wikipedia)

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Content Published November 20, 2020

Antropologie decoration

Decoration is the best way to bring the magic of season to life.

The biggest one is the Christmas and New Year's decoration.

Nowadays, decoration is not only full with colors, garlands, tree and glass ornament. The decoration above is one of the decorations that go out and beyond.

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Content Published November 20, 2020

Fire escape Detail ( Delong Building )

In 1876, Philadelphia enacted the first municipal fire escape law in the United States. This ordinance had been proposed by the chief engineer of Philadelphia’s newly organized, paid fire department, partly in anticipation of the crowds expected to attend the Centennial Exhibition but mainly because of deadly fires in factories. The law created a Board of Fire Escapes, which could order the construction of fire escapes on any building, in whatever form the board believed best. Significantly, the law applied to existing buildings as well as new construction, and by specifying that fire escapes be “erected,” assumed these would be structures in or on buildings.

Soon thereafter, in 1879, Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a fire escape law. Like the Philadelphia law, the state act specified that fire escapes be “permanent,” and now they also had to be “external.” It obliged not only building owners, but also building managers, to put in the fire escapes. The law was ineffective, however. It gave no guidance on what a fire escape should be like, apart from being permanent and external. Moreover, the legislature provided no resources, no state officers, and no funds to enforce the act.

Philadelphia’s City Councils took the occasion of this law to discontinue funding for the Fire Escape Board, thereby allowing the city’s ordinance to lapse. Without any enforcement, few building owners voluntarily complied with either law. For example, five years after the ordinance passed, and two after the state law, few factories in Philadelphia had fire escapes.

(philadelphiaencyclopedia.org)

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Content Published November 20, 2020

Fire escape ( Delong Building )

A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible. Fire escapes are most often found on multiple-story residential buildings, such as apartment buildings. At one time, they were a very important aspect of fire safety for all new construction in urban areas; more recently, however, they have fallen out of common use. This is due to the improved building codes incorporating fire detectors, technologically advanced fire fighting equipment, which includes better communications and the reach of fire fighting ladder trucks, and more importantly fire sprinklers. The international building codes and other authoritative agencies have incorporated fire sprinklers into multi-story buildings below 15 storeys and not just skyscrapers.

A fire escape consists of a number of horizontal platforms, one at each story of a building, with ladders or stairs connecting them. The platform and stairs are usually open steel gratings, to prevent the build-up of ice, snow, and leaves. Railings are usually provided on each of the levels, but as fire escapes are designed for emergency use only, these railings often do not need to meet the same standards as railings in other contexts. The ladder from the lowest level of the fire escape to the ground may be fixed, but more commonly it swings down on a hinge or slides down along a track. The moveable designs allow occupants to safely reach the ground in the event of a fire but prevent people from accessing the fire escape from the ground at other times (such as to perpetrate a burglary or vandalism). Lower part of a fire escape in New York.

Exit from the interior of a building to the fire escape may be provided by a fire exit door, but in most cases the only exit is through a window. When there is a door, it is often fitted with a fire alarm to prevent other uses of the fire escape, and to prevent unauthorized entry. As many fire escapes were built before the advent of electronic fire alarms, fire escapes in older buildings have often needed to be retrofitted with alarms for this purpose (wikipedia)

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Content Published November 16, 2020

Brick house

A monumental sculpture by acclaimed artist Simone Leigh has been installed at the corner of 34th and Walnut Streets, the gateway to College Green at the University of Pennsylvania.

Titled “Brick House,” the piece depicts a Black woman’s head atop a form that suggests a skirt or perhaps a building. It is the first large-scale piece in the artist’s Anatomy of Architecture series that merges human form with diverse architectural elements. Cast in bronze, the work stands 16 feet high, 9 feet in diameter at its base, and weighs 5,900 pounds. The piece features cowrie shells on the woman’s braids which symbolize wealth, femininity, and the African slave trade in which the shells were used as currency,

The sculpture is a gift from 1987 Penn graduate Glenn Fuhrman, who also earned an MBA degree from The Wharton School the following year, and 1995 Penn graduate Amanda Fuhrman. They advocated for the sculpture's placement on Penn's campus after learning that Leigh hoped to display her artwork on a college campus.

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Content Published November 15, 2020

The street of lights

When we are talking about street lights, we have to start from Christmas lights decoration.

Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world

The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of today's Con Edison electric utility, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, on December 22, 1882 at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Local newspapers ignored the story, seeing it as a publicity stunt. However, it was published by a Detroit newspaper reporter, and Johnson has become widely regarded as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. By 1900, businesses started stringing up Christmas lights behind their windows. Christmas lights were too expensive for the average person; as such, electric Christmas lights did not become the majority replacement for candles until 1930.

In 1895, US President Grover Cleveland sponsored the first electrically-lit Christmas tree in the White House. It was a huge specimen, featuring over a hundred multicolored lights. The first commercially-produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of multiples of eight sockets by the General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey. Each socket took a miniature two-candela carbon-filament lamp.

From that point on, electrically-illuminated Christmas trees (only indoors) grew with mounting enthusiasm in the US and elsewhere. San Diego in 1904, Appleton, Wisconsin in 1909, and New York City in 1912 were the first recorded instances of the use of Christmas lights outside. McAdenville, North Carolina claims to have been the first in 1956. The Library of Congress credits the town for inventing "the tradition of decorating evergreen trees with Christmas lights dates back to 1956 when the McAdenville Men's Club conceived of the idea of decorating a few trees around the McAdenville Community Center. However, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has had "lights" since 1931, but did not have real electric lights until 1956. Furthermore, Philadelphia's Christmas Light Show and Disney's Christmas Tree also began in 1956. Though General Electric sponsored community lighting competitions during the 1920s, it would take until the mid-1950s for the use of such lights to be adopted by average households.

Christmas lights found use in places other than Christmas trees. By 1919, city electrician John Malpiede began decorating the new Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, eventually expanding the display to the park's Greek Amphitheater and later to the adjacent new Denver City and County Building - City Hall upon its completion in 1932. Soon, strings of lights adorned mantles and doorways inside homes, and ran along the rafters, roof lines, and porch railings of homes and businesses. In recent times, many city skyscrapers are decorated with long mostly-vertical strings of a common theme, and are activated simultaneously in Grand Illumination ceremonies.

In 1963, a boycott of Christmas lights was done in Greenville, North Carolina to protest the segregation that kept blacks from being employed by downtown businesses in Greenville, during the Christmas sales season. Known as the Black Christmas boycott or "Christmas Sacrifice", it was an effective way to protest the cultural and fiscal segregation in the town with 33% black population. Light decorations in the homes, on the Christmas trees, or outside the house were not shown, and only six houses in the black community broke the boycott that Christmas (wikipedia)

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Content Published November 12, 2020

John Barry

John Barry (March 25, 1745 – September 13, 1803) was an Irish-American officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy. He has been credited as "The Father of the American Navy" (and shares that moniker with John Paul Jones, and John Adams) and was appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775. He was the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.

After the war, he became the first commissioned U.S. naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.

This bronze statue of John Barry (1745-1803) in Independence Square was sculpted by Samuel Murray (1869-1941), the artist who produced the statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall. The statue was commissioned by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Philadelphia, who then donated the statue to the City. The piece was modeled by Murray, probably in Philadelphia, in 1906. It was cast by the Roman Bronze Works of Brooklyn, NY. The pedestal was built by the Harrison Granite Co. of Barre, VT. A crowd of 15,000 witnessed the unveiling of the statue on March 16, 1907. A number of details are known about Samuel Murray's execution of the sculpture of John Barry. Murray generally worked from life or used photographs or earlier portraits. In both cases, he first modeled a nude figure to establish the anatomy correctly. Before modeling John Barry, Murray studied Gilbert Stuart's painting of Barry and had a friend pose in Barry's own Revolutionary War uniform. George Washington (ca. 1910; north of Independence Hall), Dr. Joseph· Leidy (1907; Academy of Natural Sciences), and-Rev. Corby (1910; Gettysburg battlefield) are other sculptures by Murray.

A few changes were made to the piece shortly after it was dedicated. In 1912, a bronze tablet was added to the north side of the pedestal, as the inscription cut in the stone was illegible from a distance. In 1913, Samuel Murray repaired a finger on the vandalized statue. In 1915, a change in the grading of the base of the statue was approved by the Art Commission.

(wikipedia, nps.gov)

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Religious Architecture

The history of architecture is concerned more with religious buildings than with any other type
Landmarks & Historial Buildings/ Objects

As the birth place of USA, Philadelphia is packed with a lot of landmarks and historical buildings/ sites.
Philadelphia Corners

The corners of Philadelphia that we know, see, and pass everyday, We just need to stop for awhile, let them entertain you so we can be grateful for being alive.
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Architectural sculptures or objects/elements, either integrated with the structure or freestanding works, they are part of the original design.
Surrounding cities

The beauties of surrounding cities and counties around Philadelphia.
Nature

Nature is powerful and wise in its silence. It has endless amount of patience and unconditional love. After all, Nature is just simple and source of inspirations
Arts

The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.