222 Best Sights in Pennsylvania, USA

Construction began in 1913, but Raymond Pitcairn, who provided the vision and the funds, insisted that the cathedral be built the old way—he wanted a medieval cathedral and he wanted the medieval techniques of stone cutting and stained glass making used as well. The cathedral was built from models, not blue prints, and these models became adaptable over the course of construction. While the cathedral is impressive from the outside, the most interesting architectural discoveries are in the inside, where it becomes more than a copy of medieval motifs, and where many New Church beliefs are melded into the architecture. Throughout the interior is optical refinement, meaning there are no hard angles, and no two things are the same—every archway, door, and window is slightly different; even every lock has its own special key, and no two carving details are alike. The walls are all slightly curved. Known for its stained glass, which was all made on site, the actual cathedral is a wash of red and blue, a stunning glow that changes throughout the day, depending on the sun. The church requests that you call ahead for groups of 10 or more.

Touting itself as the Niagara of Pennsylvania, Bushkill Falls is certainly among the Poconos' prettiest natural sites. There are eight cascades in this privately owned attraction; the highest is the Main Falls, with a drop of around 100 feet. Four trails of varying length and difficulty weave through the park; the most strenuous is about 2 miles long and passes by all eight falls. Other activities include minigolf, a children’s maze, paddleboats, and fishing. There’s also a longhouse and an exhibit on local wildlife.

Located adjacent to the Adventure Aquarium on the Camden waterfront, this delightful 4-acre garden is an interactive horticultural playground with theme exhibits. You can smell, hear, touch, and even taste some of the elements in the Dinosaur, Cityscapes, Picnic, and Storybook exhibits, as well as in the gardens and the Butterfly House. Other attractions include Amaze, Carousel, Train Ride, Tree House, and more. To get here, drive or take the ferry from Penn's Landing.

The has a planetarium, a World War II submarine, more than 250 hands-on science exhibits, and a four-story Omnimax theater.

This handsome, patterned red-and-black brick building dating from 1770 was the headquarters of the Carpenters' Company, a guild founded to support carpenters, who were both builders and architects in this era, and to aid their families. In September 1774 the First Continental Congress convened here and addressed a declaration of rights and grievances to King George III. Today re-creations of Colonial settings include original Windsor chairs and candle sconces and displays of 18th-century carpentry tools. The Carpenters' Company still owns and operates the building.

The basilica of the archdiocese of Philadelphia is the spiritual center for the Philadelphia area's 1.4 million Roman Catholics. Topped by a huge copper dome, it was built between 1846 and 1864 in the Italian Renaissance style. Many of the interior decorations are by Constantino Brumidi, who painted the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Several Philadelphia bishops and archbishops are buried beneath the altar.

Five styles of furniture—Jacobean, William and Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal—reflect the accumulations of five generations of the Paschall-Morris family; additions and changes to the house itself, built 1748–50, reveal changing tastes. The stone house stood in Frankford, in northeastern Philadelphia, before being moved to this location in 1927.

In a restored barn, the Chaddsford Winery offers tastings and tours of its wine-making facilities. Bring a picnic and enjoy music under the stars during regularly scheduled summer concerts and festival weekends.

Chanticleer, the onetime estate of the owner of a local pharmaceutical company, is now a 30-acre garden that bursts with color in the spring when 10,000 bulbs bloom. The grounds offer a range of settings, including lush woodlands with rare Asian specimens, a formal house garden, and a serpentine-shaped "avenue" lined with young junipers, wheat and barley, and gingko trees.

Donated objects and acquisitions help tell the story of Chester County from the late 1600s to today. The society's architectural complex, known as the History Center, includes a former opera house where Buffalo Bill once performed. Galleries tell about the Delaware Valley's settlers and the decorative furniture they crafted; quilts, period clothing, and grandfather clocks are some key collections, as well as American cross-stitch samplers. A hands-on history lab lets kids churn butter and dress up in a hoop skirt.

What started as a family hobby in 1945 with a single train chugging around the Groff family Christmas tree is now the Choo-Choo Barn, Traintown, USA. This 1,700-square-foot display of Lancaster County in miniature has 20 trains, mainly in O-gauge, with 150 animated scenes, including an authentic Amish barn raising, a huge three-ring circus with animals and acrobats, and a blazing house fire with fire engines rushing to the disaster. Periodically, the overhead lights dim and the scene turns to night, with streetlights and locomotive headlights glowing in the darkness.

The Anglicans of the Church of England built a wooden church on this site in 1697. When they outgrew it, they erected a new church, the most sumptuous in the colonies, probably designed by Dr. John Kearsley and modeled on the work of famed English architect Sir Christopher Wren. The symmetrical, classical facade with arched windows, completed in 1754, is a fine example of Georgian architecture; the church is one of the city's treasures. The congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The bells and the soaring 196-foot steeple, the tallest in the colonies, were financed by lotteries run by Benjamin Franklin. Brass plaques mark the pews of George and Martha Washington, John and Abigail Adams, Betsy Ross, and others. Two blocks west of the church is Christ Church Burial Ground. Guided tours are available throughout the day.

Weathered gravestones fill the resting place of five signers of the Declaration of Independence and other Colonial patriots. The best known is Benjamin Franklin; he lies alongside his wife, Deborah, and their son, Francis, who died at age four. According to local legend, throwing a penny onto Franklin's grave will bring you good luck. The burial ground is open to the public—except in December, January, and February—for regular visits.

Claes Oldenburg's 45-foot-high, 10-ton steel sculpture stands in front of the Center Square Building, above one of the entrances to SEPTA's City Hall subway station. Lauded by some and scorned by others, this pop-art piece contrasts with the traditional statuary so common in Philadelphia.

Built in 1869, the Columbia Market House is one of the oldest farmers' market sites in the state. The basement was once used as a dungeon; from the outside, you can still see the ground-level windows through which prisoners were shoved down a chute into the darkness, and guided tours are available by appointment.

Not far from the river in a nondescript corner of town is a delightful Asian fusion restaurant, Concerto Fusion Cuisine. Past the wall of water is a modern bar and dining room, where you can order from an ample menu that merges a host of Asian (and some non-Asian) cuisines. Start with crab Rangoon or phyllo-crusted prawns before moving on to wok-seared duck, Thai red snapper, or a large selection of sushi and sashimi. Lunch specials are a good deal.

Congress Hall was the meeting place of the U.S. Congress from 1790 to 1800, one of the most important decades in our nation's history. Here the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton's proposals for a mint and a national bank were enacted; and Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee became the first new states after the original colonies. On the first floor you can find the House of Representatives, where President John Adams was inaugurated in 1797. On the second floor is the Senate chamber, where in 1793 George Washington was inaugurated for his second term. Both chambers have been authentically restored.

On a 200-year-old estate near where Washington crossed the Delaware, the family-run vineyard mixes vintage charm with modern wine-making techniques. Despite a nod to the rustic (a beam ceiling in the tasting room and gift shop), the old gambrel-roofed barn feels fresh and upscale. In a 15- to 20-minute tasting ($10), the staff lets you know what to expect from eight different types of wines. Ask to see Lucy and Ethel, the computerized press and crusher-destemmer, respectively. Concerts are offered in summer.

The lobby of the Curtis Publishing Company building has a great treasure: a 15-by-50-foot glass mosaic mural, The Dream Garden, based on a Maxfield Parrish painting. It was executed by the Louis C. Tiffany Studios in 1916. The work's 260 colors and 100,000 pieces of opalescent hand-fired glass laced with gold leaf make it perhaps the finest Tiffany mural in the world. The mural was also designated a "historic object" by the Philadelphia Historical Commission after its owner, the estate of a local art patron, put it up for sale for $9 million in 1998; the designation, the first in the city's history, stopped the sale and the mural remains in public view, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Graduates of this tuition-free school for outstanding students include Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem, and Anna Moffo. The school occupies four former private homes; the main building is in the mansion that belonged to banker George W. Childs Drexel. Built in 1893 by the distinguished Boston firm of Peabody and Stearns, it's notable for Romanesque and Renaissance architectural details. Free student and faculty concerts are given from October through May, usually at 8 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The David Wills House is where Abraham Lincoln stayed and completed his Gettysburg Address on November 18, 1863. The restored building features seven galleries, including the bedroom where Lincoln slept and worked on the final versions of his speech, as well as the office of Wills, a prominent lawyer who helped direct the city's cleanup after the battle and was a leading force behind the creation of the national cemetery.

In a second-floor room that he had rented from bricklayer Jacob Graff, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) drafted the Declaration of Independence in June 1776. The home was reconstructed for the Bicentennial celebration; the bedroom and parlor in which Jefferson lived that summer were re-created with period furnishings. The first floor has a Jefferson exhibition. The display on the Declaration of Independence shows some of the changes Jefferson made while writing it. You can see Jefferson's original version—which would have abolished slavery had the passage not been stricken by the committee that included Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

Cypress Street, north of Delancey Place, and Panama Street (especially the 1900 block, one block south of Delancey) are two of the many intimate streets lined with trees and town houses characteristic of the area. At No. 2010 is the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

This museum includes the restored 18th-century home, studio, and garden of Charles Demuth (1883–1935), one of America's first modernist artists, who lived in the city of Lancaster for most of his short life. A watercolorist, Demuth found inspiration in the geometric shapes of machines and modern technology, as well as the flowers in his mother's garden. Several of his works are on display. The gallery also features a changing exhibit of regional and national artists. The complex includes the former oldest operating tobacco shop in the country, which dates to 1770.

Built in 1775 by John Dilworth, Todd House has been restored to its 1790s appearance, when its best-known resident, Dolley Payne Todd (1768–1849), lived here. She lost her husband, the Quaker lawyer John Todd, to yellow fever in 1793. The widow later married James Madison, our fourth president. Her time as a hostess in the White House was quite a contrast to her years in this simple home. There's an 18th-century garden next to Todd House.

Open by tour only; free tickets available at the Independence Visitor Center in advance.

A short walk or drive away is the Both 19th-century funiculars edge up ever-so-steep hillsides. The view at the top is well worth the $3.50 round-trip. Several restaurants at the top have great views.

A self-proclaimed "Kingdom for Kids," this 44-acre amusement park features rides and activities suited for families with younger children. Most rides, such as the roller coaster, merry-go-round, and giant slide, are quite tame. The adjacent water park (no separate admission), Duke's Lagoon, is open weekends, Memorial Day through Labor Day. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, the park is open for its "Dutch Winter Wonderland," with holiday-themed rides and a light show.

Designed by John Haviland and built in 1829, Eastern State was at the time the most expensive building in America; this massive structure influenced international penal design and was the model for some 300 prisons from China to South America. Its system of solitary confinement (to encourage reflection and penitence) and firm discipline was ultimately recognized as flawed. Before it closed in 1971, the now-crumbling, atmospheric prison was home to Al Capone, Willie Sutton, and Pep the Dog, who allegedly killed the cat that belonged to a governor's wife. The excellent audio tour of the prison features narration by actor Steve Buscemi, and some thoughtful exhibits examine issues relating to criminal justice reform. You can also take a guided tour; check online in advance. The penitentiary, just a half mile north of the Rodin Museum, hosts changing art installations and Terror Behind the Walls, a very popular group of haunted house experiences, around Halloween. At this writing, work was beginning on a new visitor center, but the site is still open. Also, most areas you visit are unheated, so bundle up well in winter.

Philadelphia's only mid-19th-century house-museum is a Victorian Gothic extravaganza of elongated windows and arches. This gorgeous 1859 suburban villa is used to illustrate the way Victorian social mores were reflected through its decoration. The downstairs highlights the Rococo Revival (circa 1860), the upstairs is fashioned after the Renaissance Revival (1880s), and the difference is striking, especially the Art Deco–like wall details you may not associate with the time. Also striking is the chamber pot in the dining room that the men used after the ladies retired to the parlor. What makes this house particularly interesting is that it was home to middle-upper-class residents, and so much of the decoration represents the norm of what people in that class strove to be. The house is two blocks from the Tulpehocken stop on SEPTA's Chestnut Hill West line.

One of America's most original writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49), lived here from 1843 to 1844; it's the only one of his Philadelphia residences still standing. During that time some of his best-known short stories were published: "The Telltale Heart," "The Black Cat," and "The Gold Bug." You can tour the three-story brick house; to evoke the spirit of Poe, the National Park Service displays first-edition manuscripts and other rare books and offers interactive exhibits as well. An adjoining house has exhibits on Poe and his family, his work habits, and his literary contemporaries; there's also an eight-minute film and a small Poe library and reading room. A statue of a raven helps set the mood. The site, easily reached from the African American Museum, is five blocks north of Market Street. SEPTA bus 47 travels on 7th Street to Green Street, where you should disembark.