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Although razed in 1812, a "Ghost House" frame, built by Robert Venturi in 1976 for the Bicentennial, depicts the exact positions of the original 3-story house, 33 square-foot, ten-room house and adjacent print shop, while excavations underneath reveal the original foundations, privy pits, and wells.
Six museums on the site, also built in 1976 for the Bicentennial, trace Franklin's life as a publisher, politician, postmaster, printer and invebtor. Below the court is an underground museum filled with paintings, objects, and inventions associated with Benjamin Franklin including a reproduction of Franklin's Armonica, also called a glass harmonica.
- At 314 Market Street is the United States Postal Service Museum, with exhibits that include Pony Express pouches and originals of Franklin's Pennyslvania Gazette.
- At 316 Market Street is the B. Free Franklin Post Office, the the only active post office in the United States that does not fly a United States flag--because there wasn't yet one in 1775.
- At 318 Market Street is an architectural exhibit about Franklin's interest in fire-resistant buildings with fully exposed walls, revealing wooden joists separated by masonry and plaster. In the cellar are collections of pottery and glassware, collected from his privy pits.
- At 320 Market Street is the Printing Office and Bindery, with demonstrations of 18th century printing and binding equipment on display. At 322 Market Street is the General Advertiser, a the restored office of The Aurora and general Advertiser, the newspaper published by Franklin's grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache.
- 322 Market Street also claims two famous connections--James Wilson, an editor of The Aurora, and grandfather to Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, who lived there; and Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book and author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," who worked there from 1837-1877. |
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