Disease and Erasure: An Audio Tour of Philadelphia

Overview

Philadelphia has been burying its dead for 300 years, and then forgetting where it put them. On this self-guided audio tour, you'll trace what happened to the city's lost graveyards, from potter's fields and epidemic victims to graves discovered under parking lots. The tour starts at Washington Square, one of William Penn's original five parks, which holds an estimated 4,500–7,500 bodies beneath its manicured lawn. From there, you'll wind through the streets of Old City, past the site of Benjamin Franklin's grave and the National Constitution Center, before heading north toward Franklin Square, where an 1830s church cemetery and it's tombstones were just buried under the dirt. Along the way, you'll discover how a clandestine 1950s archaeological dig under Washington Square – kept secret for political reasons – unearthed a soldier who may or may not have been American. The tour ends at the site of the First Baptist Burial Ground.