May 24 – 26: Historic Amistad tours | Memorial Day in Historic Philadelphia | Preservation Alliance tours, City Hall and Gilded Age Philadelphia | Fireworks at Longwood Gardens | 40th Street Summer Series

Happy Memorial Day weekend Street team!

TOUR Historic Amistad Visits Philadelphia

Friday, May 24 – Wednesday, May 29, Times vary, Independence Seaport Museum, 211 South Columbus Blvd. The historic, 19th-century ship the Amistad will dock at Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum beginning this Friday and offer tours into the beginning of next week. The ship once used to transport captive slaves from Sierra Leone became most well known as a symbol of abolition after its captives took over the ship and were, after an infamous Supreme Court trial, granted freedom. Cost: Deck tours – $15 for adults, $12 for children 3-12, free for children under 2; Sail tours $65 for adults, $35 children.

CELEBRATE Memorial Day in Historic Philadelphia

Friday, May 24 – Monday May, 27, Times vary, Independence Visitors Center, 1 North Independence Mall West. The Independence Visitors Center kicks off its busy summer season this Friday. Now through Labor Day the park will host free, daily storytelling at locations throughout the historic district. This weekend, children are invited to join the Continental Army for a drill demonstration with Washington’s troops at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. On Memorial Day the National Park Service will host two wreath-laying ceremonies – one with the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War at Independence Square at noon and another with the Daughters, Sons and Children of the American Revolution at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington Square at 4 p.m.

CELEBRATE Fireworks and Fountains at Longwood Gardens

Saturday, May 25th, 8:15 pm, Longwood Gardens 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square. Beginning Saturday and running through September, Longwood Gardens will illuminate the sky and its prized fountains with fireworks and colorful displays. The six Saturday celebrations will be accompanied by music and include access to sprawling gardens. Cost: $38 ages 16 & older, $31 members ages 16 & older, $22 ages 15 & younger, $18 members ages $15 & younger. 

LISTEN 40th Street Summer Series Kicks Off

Saturday, May 25th, 6 pm, 40th and Walnut streets. The first in a series of outdoor summer concerts hosted by University City District, The Rotunda and Penn kicks off this weekend. Taking the stage on the greenspace at 40th and Walnut streets this week is Brooklyn Qawwali Party, an 11-piece brass band from New York playing jazz fusion with Pakistani funk music roots. Now in its ninth year, this annual summer concert series will take place the last Saturday of each month, now through September. 

TOUR The Preservation Alliance Walking Tour: City Hall to City Hall

Saturday, May 25th, 2pm – 4pm, Meet at NE corner of 5th and Chestnut streets. Circle around City Hall as this tour explores the building’s exterior and cultural significance. Boasted as the most magnificent example of French Second Empire architecture in the U.S., City Hall is also the largest municipal building in the country and the tallest masonry bearing wall structure in the world. The tour will also explore how City Hall gives Philadelphia a “sense of center,” and how it has stood up against Philly’s evolution into a modern, post-World War II commercial city. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students with ID, free for children 10.

TOUR The Preservation Alliance Walking Tour: Victorian Philadelphia West of Broad

Saturday, May 25th, 10am & Sunday, May 26th, 2 pm, Meet at steps of the Bellevue, 200 S. Broad St. Step back into Gilded Age Philadelphia. This tour starts at The Bellevue (1910) and takes participants back in time to learn about the cultural, financial, commercial and civic institutions and private clubs, religious structures and the grand urban town houses and mansions in which wealthy Philadelphians lived during these opulent times. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students with ID, free for children 10.

Enjoy!