Friends of Welcome Park

Happy Independence Day!

Had a wonderful conversation and tour of the park at Independence Hall today with park Superintendent Cindy MacLeod and Tom Caraminico from the Independence Historical Trust 🇺🇸

Hello Friends! Just a reminder that our Pop-Up History event scheduled for this Friday as part of Old City's First Friday event has, unfortunately, been canceled. We hope to be able to do something highlighting Welcome Park in the near future and look forward to having you all there.

Beautiful day for planting. Thank you to all of our volunteers!

Join us and the Independence Historical Trust today at 11 am. We will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony to reopen Independence Mall. Come out, enjoy the weather and see the beautiful landscape that BrightView donated to Independence National Historical Park.

BrightView Makes Improvements to Independence National Historical Park As seen on NBC 10 in Philadelphia, Pa., the U.S. National Park Service and BrightView are improving the grounds of Independence National Historical Park in P...

The Welcome left Deal, England on September 1, 1682, and completed her voyage 57 days later, arriving in New Castle 27 October 1682. Although they avoided capture by Spanish privateers, smallpox broke out on board during the voyage. As many as one in three did not survive the voyage. William Penn was immune, having survived the disease as a child, and spent much time and effort attending to the ill.

On October 24th, with the Delaware Capes in sight, Friend Evan Oliver announced that his wife Jean had increased his family to seven children by presenting him with a daughter. To designate her birth on the ocean she was named Seaborn. As they sailed up the Delaware, Friend Richard Townsand announced that his wife Anne had presented him with a son to be called James.

Welcome Park was created in celebration of Philadelphia's tercentenary (300th anniversary). The property that makes up Welcome Park was the actual location of William Penn's Slate Roof House.