September 11

September 11, 2001 is a day I remember well. In those days, I worked 7 days a week-Tuesday, September 11 would be no different. I had just finished a talk to a group of seniors from Buffalo when my sister telephoned from Washington. It was then that I heard of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. My first reaction was to think that these were small private aircraft-only later did I learn that they were large airplanes. By 11 AM, the enormity of it all began to settle in as radio reports told of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the attack on the Pentagon, and the plane crash outside of Pittsburgh. 

Christ Church Philadelphia is located in Old City-the hub of the region’s tourism. But that day, visitors and locals alike came to pray and reflect. In a strange way, I’ve never felt closer to my fellow man. As a trained historian, I remember fleetingly thinking that this was my generation’s Pearl Harbor. In the hindsight of a decade, I’m not so sure we responded correctly. But we quickly recovered our sense of purpose. As an American, I felt (and still feel) that my nation is generally on the right side of history. The men who planned and carried out the 9.11 attacks misread America, and the West in general. A sense of idealism and the quest for equality are at the heart of the Western experience. There are few places on earth that are as open as the United States. Our faults are on display for everyone in the world to see, but our virtues will endure throughout the centuries. You can destroy buildings and kill people but this cannot stop the spread of ideas. The men who committed the attacks of 9.11 were afraid of the future- a future where competing ideas are met with mutual respect. Openness and equality is not only a cultural tradition, it should be the world’s aspiration. 

As I write these lines, it is September 11, 2011. A lot has happened since that awful Tuesday a decade ago. The “Arab Spring” of 2011 reminds me today that when I hear the bells of Christ Church, they celebrate vision, faith, and courage in action. These bells rang out to herald the birth of the United States of America on July 8, 1776. On Sunday, September 11, 2011 they remind me that humanity’s progress towards the greater freedom isn’t cheap. It never was.

Neil

Here's the Thing About the Civil War...

One of the most frustrating aspects of my job is the fact that few people ever ask questions about Christ Church in eras other than the Revolution. This leaves almost 290 years of a 316 year old institution yet to be explored.

In April, the United States honored the Sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War. It remains to most Americans the most iconic event in our history. Like their ancestors during the Revolution, Christ Church members debated the issues and acted on their beliefs.

When you visit Christ Church, look for the memorial on the south wall to honor Captain William Dorr, killed leading a charge at Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864. Or perhaps when sitting in Robert Morris’ pew 52, remember that Major Robert Morris, a grandson of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, won a posthumous Medal of Honor at the cavalry battle of Brandy Station in June, 1863.

Without each generation doing its duty as they see fit, the Founding Fathers would have been a glorious footnote to history. As it is, each generation adds to Christ Church history as it does American history.

Liberty Bell

The Welcome America celebrations are over. Signer’s Day and Independence Day festivities are over as well. It is my favorite time of year in Old City Philadelphia with guides and visitors alike sharing their mutual pride in being American.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, we had the Prayer Book from 1776 on display. It featured the crossed out prayers for the Royal Family and the King. But it was the original Christ Church Bell that drew the most attention.
Our earliest bell was crafted in Whitechapel Foundry, London in 1702 and was the principal bell of Christ Church until 1741. Twenty years later it was presented to our sister church, St. Peter’s to be their main bell. In 1845, we and St. Peter’s gave the bell to the chapel of the Christ Church Hospital, where it remained until late last month. After a “loan” of 240 years, a piece of Christ Church history had been returned. During the time it was at St. Peter’s, it is thought that it was the bell they had rung to celebrate the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776.
When told of the bell’s history, tourists wanted to touch its surface. Some wanted to ring it. One five year old even hugged the bell! It was visceral proof of a bell’s iconic power.
The more I thought about it, the idea that there were many “Liberty Bells” began to form in my mind. Our eight bells were rung, the St. Peter’s bell was rung, other Church bells were rung, and this was in Philadelphia alone. What was the moment in Boston, Charleston, Newport, or Savannah when they heard the Declaration of Independence for the first time? How did they celebrate? Did they ring their “Liberty Bell”? In an era with no mass communication each community celebrated in its own unique way.
It is a vivid reminder that Revolution – even the American Revolution – is not a top/down affair. People can be led but they cannot be forced to do something against their wishes. The celebrations in Philadelphia and elsewhere to the reading of Declaration of Independence were genuine and popular.
We all know the “Liberty Bell.” Come to Christ Church where you will be able to touch and maybe ring a bell that Mr. Jefferson heard on the day when his words were read our loud for the first time. Reflect as well that celebrations took place whenever these words were read. Your town may even have its own Liberty Bell.

Sgt. Venter's Unknown Lady Friend

One of the most underdeveloped stories in Philadelphia history is the British Army’s occupation from late September, 1777 to May, 1778. It is virtually ignored in the history books. Some of the fiercest battles of the Revolution (Brandywine, Germantown, and the Paoli Massacre) took place contesting the British attempt to occupy Philadelphia. The Continental Army’s ordeal at Valley Forge was in order to keep the British Army under close observation while it remained in the city.


Interestingly, the occupation seems to have gone with little historical notice. When the British Army left in 1778 there seems to have been genuinely mixed feelings in the population. It is an area of Philadelphia history that is both fascinating and unexplored.


And yet, there are traces in the city. As recently as three years ago a local power company found traces of a British defensive redoubt in the Frankford section of the city. Two hundred and thirty-four years ago Frankford Village was a defensive link in a chain of forts that protected the city from the Continental Army. It is a ghostly reminder of a half-forgotten war.
Another reminder is the burials of British troops in our burial grounds. Five years ago, we determined that there were at least eleven soldiers and three of their women buried in the Christ Church Burial Ground. These soldiers were junior officers, a naval surgeon, and other soldiers with their names, ranks and regiments carefully listed. In all probability they died of wounds sustained in the battles for Philadelphia or of the myriad diseases that afflicted those living in the 18th century.


But it is the women’s entries that stand out. They are simply listed with no elaboration and no explanation. One in particular is haunting. It simply reads: “Sgt. Venter’s woman.” No name, just the title Sgt. Venter gave her for eternity. As you read it in our records, the questions race through your mind. Who was she? Was she American-born or British-born? How did she die? Did she die giving birth to Sgt. Venter’s child? I suspect the story is interesting.


While we know little of Sgt. Venter’s woman, we know she was typical of the women who followed 18th century armies. They often followed the armies doing the cooking, cleaning, nursing of the injured, and providing the basics of domesticity to men whose trade was war. They were an invaluable, yet unpaid, part of both the Continental Army and the British Army.


It is my hope one day to honor those British troops who are buried at Christ Church with a small memorial. The women will also be named, including the name of “Sgt. Venter’s woman.” It is a poignant reminder that not all those who fell in the Revolution were men.
Neil Ronk

Beyond the Signatures

Signers’ Day on July 3 at Christ Church and Christ Church Burial Ground is the most enjoyable day of the year. Both sites promote a festive atmosphere, guides are dressed in colonial garb, and visitors and staff celebrate the pride we feel as Americans.
The point of Signers’ Day is to honor the moral courage it took to commit treason and affix their names to the Declaration of Independence. Most traitors hope that their actions will never be discovered-the signers of the Declaration of Independence guaranteed that they were known.
Visitors often comment on the courage it took to commit treason because if caught, they could have been hanged. True. But I think it misses an essential and more important point: they could have been wrong.
We celebrate Independence Day certain in the knowledge that we have succeeded in creating a great nation. The signers could not have known that when they placed their signatures on Mr. Jefferson’s document. The Revolutionary War, the Constitution, and the bloody Civil War all lay in the future. When they signed that document, they placed their faith in the ability of a free people to govern themselves. The journey has not been without controversy, hypocrisy, and suffering. The decisions, however, have always been in the hands of the American people. The essential decency of a free people has allowed the United States to succeed as a nation.
When we celebrate July 4, we celebrate the result of the Founding Fathers actions. Signers’ Day on July 3rd at Christ Church and its Burial Ground honors the risk they took and the moral courage to rise above it.

Exiled a Hero?

In a few weeks, the staff at Christ Church will bring out one of our most cherished historical items, the Book of Common Prayer that belonged to the Reverend Jacob Duché. Within its pages are the crossed out prayers for the monarch and the royal family and in its place a prayer for the newly established Continental Congress. It has been called the first act of treason of the American Revolution. Visitors will read the words of a man dead two centuries and find inspiration in his courage. What is harder to do is to explain that two years later while Washington’s army was suffering at Valley Forge, the Reverend Duché wrote a letter to the general counseling surrender. For this act he was publicly humiliated and forced into exile.

It frustrates me when we dumb down history. Recently, I related the Duché story to a visitor who simply said, “Got what he deserved for changing sides!” I smiled and made my exit. I think of Jacob Duché often and wonder what I would have done in similar circumstances. I don’t think the Reverend thought in terms of “sides.” He had to stay loyal to his conscience. That was his “side.”His contemporaries judged him harshly. History should be more generous. It should see a courageous man in terribly desperate times.

So, if you plan to see his prayer book on display in the church, please remember to marvel at the courage and forgive the human frailty who tried to serve his conscience and was labeled a hero and a traitor as a result.

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Neil and I have been the senior guide and historian for almost 20 years. I have always known that history and its interpretation would be my field since the age of eight when I charged my parents admission to my room to hear me present a history of aviation. My college and graduate work were geared to such a career. But in my wildest dreams, I would never have guessed that I’d work for a historic church.


Yet it is the perfect venue to tell the American Experience. Christ Church has been an active Episcopal Church since 1695. Through its doors have passed some of the greatest names in our collective history. Previous generations wrestled with issues of faith, politics, and society much as we do today.


What I hope to do is make the connections between one of Philadelphia’s greatest institutions and the wider history of the city and the nation.




We’ll see what happens!

                          - Neil