text: seven walking tours through historic Philadelphia

Betsy Ross House

marketstreet16

Walk to 2nd Street and make a right, then a left onto Arch Street. Less than a block away, with flag flying proudly is the Betsy Ross House. Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashbourn Claypoole (1752-1836) — she married three times — made the first American flag. This house, shrine to Betsy and to the American flag, was built about 1760 and thousands of persons visit it each year — its popularity is third only to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. Tours are self-guided. Instructional plaques in the first-person voice of Betsy herself lead the visitor from room to room in this charming house.



Historic District, North of Market Street