Introduction
In 1813 the State of Pennsylvania, temporarily hard up for cash, proposed to sell off the Old State House, the red-brick shrine we now call Independence Hall. A group of angry Philadelphians protested to the legislature that "the Spot which the Bill proposes to cover with private buildings, is hallowed... by many strong and impressive recollections." It was, after all, the birthplace of "the only free republic the world has seen." Independence Hall endured, of course – though it was a close shave – and is one of the more than 150 great historic sites included in this special guide.
Our history has been a short one, compared with that of other nations, and we have often been heedless of our past. But our history has also been extraordinarily rich and our landscape is still crowded with its fascinating relics.
Drawing up this compendium of sites has been a delightful but difficult task; delightful because of the breadth of the material, and difficult for the very same reason.
Our objective was simply to list those places which we believed to be the most important for any American interested in revisiting his nation's past. We cannot claim that our candidates for inclusion would be yours. There was too much horse trading – my frigate for your mining town - for us to have any illusions about that.
But we have tried hard to present the most varied possible selection of sites from every era and every region of our countryside. And we hope that as you visit some of the places herein, you will come away with "strong and impressive recollections" of your own.
The Editors
Did you find this review helpful?