Being Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a day where Americans gather with their family and friends to eat turkey, watch football and hopefully give thanks for all that they have in their lives.  On the Eve of this great holiday, I would like to give my own thanks.

I am thankful to the National Park Service.  Every day in rain, sheet, snow and sun, rangers are out in our wilderness parks, history parks and monuments; interpreting, protecting and maintaining these places for the American people.  I am thankful to the Federal Government who in 1872 had the foresight to protect a little place called Yellowstone from being destroyed through development.  Today the National Park Service protects over 450 natural, historical, recreational, and cultural areas throughout the United States, its territories, and island possessions.

I am thankful to the founding members of organizations like the Friends of Independence.  They had the passion, dedication and foresight to understand the importance of preserving and protecting our American Treasures.  I am thankful that they preferred to work on a shoe string budget so that they could pool more of their resources into our great parks and to make them the place to visit.

I am thankful to members, donors and corporate sponsors who agree with us that Independence National Historical Park is worth protecting and maintaining.  I am thankful to the nearly four million visitors who come to our park each year… they remind me why I love working here.

Mainly, I am thankful that I work for the Friends of Independence and that while I will play only a small part in the impressive and extensive history of this park, I will still play a part.  As a born and bred Philadelphian who went on field trips here as a child, nothing makes me prouder than knowing that I am helping to preserve this park for future generations.

So I hope you will join me today and tomorrow and offer thanks to a government department that preserves our heritage, to the rangers who love their job and sharing their knowledge, to the groups like the Friends who tirelessly work to preserve these places and mainly, give thanks to Independence National Historical Park, there is no other place like it and after all, it is the place where America was born.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

~Maiti Gallen

  Program Director

An inside Look from the Top of Independence Hall

To live in the presence of Independence Hall during this historic restoration has been a once in a lifetime experience for me. To see the spectacular changes on a weekly basis as our National Icon is restored to her historic glory is a project the Friends can be proud of.  

A little history…

Two and a half years ago, the Park along with Charlie Tonetti, Chief Historical Architect’s recommendations, came to the Friends with a plan that would enable the park to work on a beloved building while preserving the visitor experience.  Independence Hall had to undergo restoration work which would cover this iconic building in heavy scaffolding for many months.  Almost 4 million visitors come to this park annually and pose for pictures with Independence Hall in the background. Independence National Historical Park wanted the Decorative Scrim so visitors’memories could still be captured with little interference from ongoing construction. This project will be completed in the next couple of months.

Don Kaufman, former Board member and neighbor describes his experience as he viewed the Bell Tower restoration:

This was not just the end of another Friends project; it was the beginning of a transformation, ….. an out of the box experience for me and as well as Board Member Ed D’Alba, I’m sure.  We were invited to participate in a Press Conference held by INHP to present the restoration of the Bell Tower.  The tower hasn't had a major face lift for many years, so we climbed the scaffolding to examine the restoration that had taken place over the past few months.

We were thoroughly impressed by the quality of the restoration.    An interesting aspect was our ability to view the restoration for the outside of the tower.   One of Ed's employee's commented that “years from now when his kids visit the Hall, he would be able to say that he was on the outside of the tower on the tippy tippy top.” What a thrill to be part of the Friends and to be able to contribute to the restoration of this historic monument.

~Don Kaufman
   Former Board Member, 2005-2010

A few words from Ed D’Alba current board member…

The ascent of the tower was breathtaking.  The opportunity to stand above the "Hall," and outside the "Tower," all of which have withstood the test of time, debate and challenge from what happened within and beyond its hallowed halls will never be forgotten. 

It took but a few steps along the highest levels of the scaffolding to observe the stately beech trees around Commodore Barry to the south, to see the openness of the multi-storied south face of the Constitution Center to the north, and the contemporary and many other historic properties around and near the mall to the east and west.  Is there any other place on earth that so vividly helps underscores the role, the need, and the importance of friends groups nationwide, and of the Friends of Independence National Historic Park in particular?  Helping to preserve and enhance this National Treasure felt very right that day, and will provide memories for years to come.  In one word - Awesome! 

~Ed D’Alba

  Board Member, 2011 -

As Treasurer and Co-Chair of the Independence Hall Scrim Committee, this is civic project that I and the Friends of Independence will never forget.

~ Karen D. Kaufman
   Treasurer and Board Member