Penn's Landing and the Independence Seaport Museum

After grabbing some icecream at Franklin's Fountain, we strolled down Market Street and across to Penn's Landing ( a waterfront area on the banks of the Delaware River) in the afternoon. This is an off time for Penn's Landing, as apparently there are concerts and such in the evening. If you are looking for a lively atmosphere you can check out the gophilla.com website for dates and times of activities. There is a ferry there that will take you across to New Jersey and the Independence Seaport Museum. We got to the Museum at 3:30 and I asked the desk clerk what the museum had to offer (I had never heard of it before). She said there are 2 floors are exhibits and a boat and submarine you can explore docked out back. I noted that the place was empty and she offered to have my son go free (my daughter was already in the under three= free category) since the Museum was closing at 5. I paid for me and my wife and we headed out to the boats. Turns out the kids loved it.

Here's a run down of the two ships from the ISM website:

The Olympia (C-6) is the oldest steel warship afloat in the world. Launched in San Francisco, CA, in 1892, she is similar to many early steel warships built in Philadelphia for the US Navy.
On May 1, 1898, Olympia devastated a Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines,beginning the Spanish-American War. Olympia helped catapult the United States into the role of superpower and won fame for her most famous officer, Commodore George Dewey. It was from Olympia's bridge that Dewey delivered his famous order, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Olympia also served her country during World War I.

and

Dive into history aboard Independence Seaport Museum's battle-tested World War II Submarine Becuna! Launched in 1944, the Becuna (SS-319) completed five wartime patrols in the Pacific Ocean. Becuna is similar to many submarines built in Philadelphia for the U.S. Navy.
Becuna is a BALAO-class submarine built in New London, CT. During World War II, "Becky" prowled the Pacific Ocean for Japanese ships, and is credited with sinking 3.5 Japanese merchant ships.

Becuna's Cold War missions often found her in the Atlantic, trailing Soviet submarines with eavesdropping equipment aboard. She served in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and ended her long and distinguished career as a training submarine in Connecticut. Becuna was decommissioned in 1969 and has been part of Independence Seaport Museum's Historic Ship Zone since 1996.


The regular exhibits include predominantly models of ships. There were a couple of fun, interactive exhibits, but we breezed through the interior museum in about 20 minutes. That was more than enough for the age of our kids. The ships (Olympia and Becuna) were the highlight of the stop! My son loved it. He still talks about the size of the sub and the small passageways, and the big guns today (a week after our trip).