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Franklin Court, Independence National Historical Park

Franklin Court is at 318 Market Street in downtown Philadelphia. It is part of Independence National Historical Park and is within walking distance of the visitor center. The site also contains an underground Benjamin Franklin museum.

Excavations at Franklin Court in 1953 rediscovered the site of Franklin’s house. The surviving buildings at the northern, Market Street end of the property are mostly facades, with only the basement and interior walls remaining. The original floors are represented by metal platforms which give access to displays and rooms on other levels.

Displayed glass that was excavated on the site includes English bottles and tableware, Bohemian drinking vessels, and bottles associated with the eighteenth century glasshouses of southern New Jersey including Wistarberg. There are even enough fragments of one or more crowns of window glass to suggest that panes were cut on the site.

Excavated ceramics include typical English wares and redware made in the Philadelphia area. Wasters, trivets and kiln bricks suggest that potters were working on or near Franklin Court during the 1750s.

The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia.
John L. Cotter, Daniel G. Roberts and Michael Parrington.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
“Benjamin Franklin’s Lost House”, pages 86-96, discusses the history and archaeology of Franklin Court. Other sites and artifacts, including excavated glass, are discussed elsewhere in the book.