Colonial Pennsylvania

Tuesday was wet and rainy. The crew worked on maintenance below deck, and I decided to focus upon colonial life. The story of Pennsylvania began in 1681. That was the year King Charles II of England gave American land to William Penn. The following year, Penn and his Quaker Friends came to Pennsylvania. Thousands of people from Europe crossed the ocean on ships and came to Pennsylvania to start a new life. The colony's capital city, Philadelphia, quickly grew into one of the largest cities in all the thirteen colonies.

Penn picked a special place in the corner for his colony. The place was located between two rivers, the Delaware and the Schuylkill. He selected this location because ships could enter the Delaware Bay and sail right up to the new town to deliver people and supplies as well as take goods from Pennsylvania to other places. Penn planned "a green country town, which will never be burnt and always be wholesome." He planned Philadelphia to be well-spaced to prevent fire and disease and recommended that buildings be built of the red clay found along the river. Most of the homes were row houses. The English government taxed the colonists based upon the number of steps to the front door, the number of windows, the number of rooms, and the width of the building on the street.

On Elfreth's Alley, the longest continuously-inhabited street in North America, you can find a house that is only nine feet wide. That's smaller than a school bus!

You often hear how different homes were in the south from homes in the middle colonies. I was actually struck by how similar they were. The middle class people lived in much simpler houses than the wealthy. The wealthy, on the other hand, not only had more refined city homes, but had summer homes up the river.

Many people had kitchens below the houses as kitchen smells were thought to be unpleasant. Colonial Philadelphia had a lot of smells as pigs ran the streets eating the garbage. As a matter of fact, much of what we know of how early Philadelphians lived came from digging up their garbage which they had buried.

Thursday we set sail down the Delaware River, across Delaware Bay, and on to the Delaware Canal. We had a fine sail on Pride II. I wonder if sailors of the 1800's enjoyed themselves as much?

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

So, welcome to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the busiest canal in the United States! It is third only to the Panama and the Suez canals. It connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore.

Click on the map for a larger image

If we go back to our history books, we find that prior to the building of this canal, ships had to go all the way around the Delmarva peninsula in order to get from Philadelphia to Chesapeake Bay. The building of the canal opened up the northern Chesapeake and western Pennsylvania frontiers to Maryland. The Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay were only separated by a narrow strip of land. A canal could shorten the water route between Philadelphia and Baltimore by nearly 300 miles. One of the people who argued hardest for the construction of this 14 mile canal was, guess who - Ben Franklin!

Construction began in 1804 but stopped due to lack of money. In 1824, some 2,600 men were digging and hauling dirt from the ditch. They worked for 75 cents an hour and finished in 1829. Teams of mules and horses pulled freight, barges, schooners, and sloops through the canal. The canal at that time had locks. Many years later, the Army Corps of Engineers dug the canal deeper and wider to allow today's larger ships to come through. When they did this, they had to take out a whole street of houses that used to be in Chesapeake City.

Image courtesy Maryland Historical Society

Now the first row of houses are the homes of the mid-1800's where the sea captains lived. Behind that, there are just a couple of streets of homes and then you will see farms, predominately soy bean farms. Chesapeake City grew on the other side of the canal as well. You can learn much more about the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal by working through the on-line Canal vs. Railroad Maryland Exploration.

Image courtesy of the proprietors of the Inn at the Canal, Chesapeake City, Maryland.

We leave Chesapeake City and sail to the end of the canal and on into the Chesapeake Bay. As I write to you tonight, my final evening aboard, we sail below a beautiful full moon. Soon we will sail under the Bay Bridge and on to Annapolis where you will be met by your next teacher, Fran Rallo, who will tell you about our state capital. It has been my pleasure being your Teacher on this leg of the ship's voyage home. Thank you for being good shipmates and thanks to Pride of Baltimore II. Good Sailing!

Your Blue Ribbon Teacher Aboard,
Sandy Barrows
Kenilworth Elementary School
Bowie, Maryland

YOUR THOUGHTS

1. Many people believe Ben Franklin to be the greatest American ever. What are some of the things Franklin did for Philadelphia and for the United States?
2. When the new United States government was looking for a site for its capital, the northern states wanted New York, but the southern states complained of the distance. They compromised on a location on the Potomac River, today's District of Columbia. How would a Philadelphian have felt about this compromise? Why?
3. Chesapeake City and Philadelphia both have a Dock Street. Philadelphia renamed Front Street to Market Street. Chesapeake City has a Bank Street and a Pig's Alley. It is interesting to study the names of streets. How do you think these streets got their names? Do you have any interesting street names where you live? Write a paragraph about your most interesting street name. Email it to: schools@pride2.org Let's compare!
4. Both Chesapeake City and Philadelphia are seaport cities. Before the C&D canal was built, there was no Chesapeake City. Why do you think Chesapeake City was established at this location? Find other cities on a map. Why were these cities located at these particular sites?
5. Was signing the Declaration of Independence an act of bravery or an act of treason - or both?

Return to Part 1 of the Sept. 27, 1999 Log