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CNN Live Saturday
Historic Cemetery Re-Opens to Public in Philadelphia
Aired April 26, 2003 - 16:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For your next vacation, you might want to stroll through a cemetery. Not just any cemetery, but a special one in Philadelphia that's like taking a walk through history. CNN's Whitney Casey reports on an historic site that has reopened following a nearly 30-year hiatus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out of this Philadelphia burial ground came the ideas for the post office, the public library, American democracy, electricity, the first hospital and the American flag. More than three centuries of creations from the prolific lives of these silent stones.
DONALD SMITH, CHRIST CHURCH TRUST: So up this path is Benjamin Franklin's marker, his tomb, Benjamin and Deborah. He died in 1790, and it's such an interesting phenomenon, because they've been throwing pennies on Ben Franklin's tomb.
CASEY: And since then, more than 200,000 people a year have been paying their respects to Benjamin Franklin and the thousands of others who are buried in these two acres.
However, the historic cemetery has been closed to the public for the past 25 years. Throughout the past century, it has fallen into such disrepair that inscriptions on head stones were lost to the elements. Just a year ago, before its $500,000 rebuilding, the cemetery was almost unrecognizable.
(on camera): You said that there were possibly over 5,000 people buried in here?
SMITH: Yes.
CASEY: But only 1,400 head stones?
SMITH: Yes.
CASEY: Why?
SMITH: Two reasons. First, because many people are buried together in these tombs. The other reason is that we know from the church records that there are at least 2,000 people whose markers have disappeared with time.
CASEY (voice-over): The faded markers tell very little of this labyrinth of stones. The answers lie here.
SMITH: Record of the inscriptions on the tablets and grave stones on the burial grounds of Christ Church, Philadelphia.
CASEY: History that restorers have brought back to life.
SMITH: This is the original inscription that was on there that is now gone. "Sacred to the memory of General Jacob Morgan. Morgan stood forth, the champion of the plan that man alone should legislate for man."
CASEY: And near General Morgan's tomb, the designer of the American flag.
SMITH: Francis Hopkinson with his design and George Washington went to Betsy Ross, to have that flag sewn, and she, in fact, made some adaptations to create the flag that we have.
CASEY: So amidst the time-worn tombs, the violets and dandelions, are five signers of the Declaration of the Independence, a signer of the Constitution, 10 Philadelphia mayors, loyalists, revolutionaries and Civil War heroes, founders of the American nation.
For the first time in nearly three decades, the site is open and restored for the nation to see.
Whitney Casey, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 26, 2003 - 16:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For your next vacation, you might want to stroll through a cemetery. Not just any cemetery, but a special one in Philadelphia that's like taking a walk through history. CNN's Whitney Casey reports on an historic site that has reopened following a nearly 30-year hiatus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out of this Philadelphia burial ground came the ideas for the post office, the public library, American democracy, electricity, the first hospital and the American flag. More than three centuries of creations from the prolific lives of these silent stones.
DONALD SMITH, CHRIST CHURCH TRUST: So up this path is Benjamin Franklin's marker, his tomb, Benjamin and Deborah. He died in 1790, and it's such an interesting phenomenon, because they've been throwing pennies on Ben Franklin's tomb.
CASEY: And since then, more than 200,000 people a year have been paying their respects to Benjamin Franklin and the thousands of others who are buried in these two acres.
However, the historic cemetery has been closed to the public for the past 25 years. Throughout the past century, it has fallen into such disrepair that inscriptions on head stones were lost to the elements. Just a year ago, before its $500,000 rebuilding, the cemetery was almost unrecognizable.
(on camera): You said that there were possibly over 5,000 people buried in here?
SMITH: Yes.
CASEY: But only 1,400 head stones?
SMITH: Yes.
CASEY: Why?
SMITH: Two reasons. First, because many people are buried together in these tombs. The other reason is that we know from the church records that there are at least 2,000 people whose markers have disappeared with time.
CASEY (voice-over): The faded markers tell very little of this labyrinth of stones. The answers lie here.
SMITH: Record of the inscriptions on the tablets and grave stones on the burial grounds of Christ Church, Philadelphia.
CASEY: History that restorers have brought back to life.
SMITH: This is the original inscription that was on there that is now gone. "Sacred to the memory of General Jacob Morgan. Morgan stood forth, the champion of the plan that man alone should legislate for man."
CASEY: And near General Morgan's tomb, the designer of the American flag.
SMITH: Francis Hopkinson with his design and George Washington went to Betsy Ross, to have that flag sewn, and she, in fact, made some adaptations to create the flag that we have.
CASEY: So amidst the time-worn tombs, the violets and dandelions, are five signers of the Declaration of the Independence, a signer of the Constitution, 10 Philadelphia mayors, loyalists, revolutionaries and Civil War heroes, founders of the American nation.
For the first time in nearly three decades, the site is open and restored for the nation to see.
Whitney Casey, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
