The Eighteenth Century Garden on Walnut Street is defined by its formal geometric planting beds and a white vine-covered gazebo. Located between third and fourth streets, this space functions as a living recreation of colonial-era…
Society Hill Pocket Gardens
This walk guides you through the quiet brick alleyways, hidden courtyards, and community gardens of Philadelphia's most historic neighborhood. It’s a peaceful way to experience how 18th-century town planning combined lush urban greenery with pedestrian-friendly pathways.
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1. 18th Century Garden
2. Rose Garden
The Rose Garden in Philadelphia is defined by its colonial-style brick walls, stone copings, and ornate iron gates that mark entrances on both Walnut and Locust Streets. This space, managed as part of Independence National Historical Park,…
3. The Magnolia Garden
The Magnolia Garden occupies a rectangular third of an acre on the south side of Locust Street, tucked between Fourth and Fifth Streets. It is enclosed by a wrought-iron fence and defined by a central lawn panel, with a wide circular basin…
4. Old Saint Joseph's Catholic Church
Old Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church is defined by its unusual invisibility; the building is tucked away behind neighboring structures, with no entrance visible from the street. Visitors reach the site through a narrow, arched alleyway off…
5. Bingham Court
Bingham Court is a collection of twenty-seven restrained modern townhouses in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. Designed by architect I. M. Pei and completed in nineteen sixty-seven, the development is characterized by its use…
6. Hill-Physick House
The Hill-Physick House is the only free-standing Federal mansion remaining in Philadelphia’s Society Hill. Built in seventeen eighty-six as the residence of wealthy Madeira wine importer Henry Hill, the four-story brick structure stands…
7. Three Bears Park
Three Bears Park, officially known as Delancey Park, is marked by a cast-concrete sculpture of three bears standing near its entrance. Created in nineteen sixty-six by sculptor Joseph Winter, these figures quickly became the defining…
8. Saint Peter's Way
Saint Peter's Way is a narrow, meandering pedestrian lane tucked between the historic rowhouses of the Society Hill neighborhood. Unlike the city’s standard grid of streets, this quiet path is a mid-block greenway designed to stitch the…
9. St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia
St. Peter’s Church, located at the corner of Third and Pine Streets, is defined by its long, barn-like structure and a brick tower topped with a tall, eight-sided wooden spire. Built between seventeen fifty-eight and seventeen sixty-one,…