This morning we left DC and headed towards Philadelphia. Since the drive was nearly 4 hours, we decided to split the time by stopping in Baltimore. I took the opportunity to pay a visit to Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore house, which has been converted into a small museum in his memory.

I learned interesting information about Poe and his life in Baltimore. He lived in this modest house with his grandmother, aunt and cousins. He got married while living in Baltimore. At the time, the house was surrounded by pastures and farmland. Now, the house is surrounded by apartment buildings. It’s quite hard to find in the sea of buildings, in fact. While living in this house, Poe decided to start writing prose as opposed to poetry, and wrote his short story “Berenice” during this time, which is described as “gruesome.” Poe died in Baltimore a decade later. The circumstances surrounding his death are mysterious to this day. He died in the hospital after being found on the street disoriented and incoherent. We do not cover Poe’s work in fifth grade, but I was happy to learn more about a significant American voice.

After the second leg of our drive, we visited the Benjamin Franklin Museum in the heart of Philadelphia. Franklin is one of my favorite historical figures to teach, and is quite a memorable one for the students! Year after year, students cite Franklin as their favorite historical figure that they learned about in fifth grade. The museum is small, but packed with excellent artifacts and details to represent Franklin’s contributions to American history. He was a model American in many ways. Franklin was a revolutionary and fair politician, an inventor, a scientist, a writer, and a printer. He educated himself by reading every book he could get his hands on. Franklin asked questions and inspired others to think for themselves.

I took this opportunity to deepen my knowledge about Ben Franklin by absorbing facts and details I didn’t yet know about his life and accomplishments.

I knew about Franklin’s relationship with France, but was unaware with his relationship London as it pertained to his connection to the American Revolution. Franklin spent ample time in London as a representative of Pennsylvania’s political and financial interests. London originally saw him as a reluctant revolutionary. Then, Franklin was accused of leaking a letter from the Lt. Governor of Massachusetts that criticized the Boston rebels. He was humiliated in front of the British Privy Council. After that, Franklin reconsidered his positive relationship with London and became a leader in the Revolution and contributed to drafting the Declaration of Independence.

Franklin wrote and printed a pamphlet called Experiments and Observations on Electricity. The pamphlet explained his electrical experiments, including his experiment with lightning as a natural form of electricity. This document made Franklin well known as a scientist.

As a world traveler who traversed the Atlantic 8 times, Franklin studied the ocean and weather patterns in hopes to make traveling and global trade more convenient and quicker. He charted the field of the gulf stream. He envisioned ways to streamline vessels for travel.

Franklin loved chess! “Franklin’s passion for the late night games was checked only by his supply of candles. He believed the skills cultivated in chess would be ‘useful in the course of human life.'” How fascinating, yet not at all surprising.

With only two full days left in our trip, we will spend time visiting Philadelphia’s other historical sites. Thanks for reading!

Edgar Allan Poe’s writing desk

Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore home

Ceramic belonging to Benjamin Franklin and his wife

Benjamin Franklin loved chess!

A pamphlet Franklin printed to demonstrate his belief in higher education as a service to mankind

Franklin investigated the gulf stream

A Glass Armonica of Franklin’s design