The city of Philadelphia has always been a commercial, educational, and cultural center. As one of the original thirteen American colonies, Philadelphia was the second-largest city in the British Empire (after London). Today, historic Philadelphia buzzes with restaurants, galleries and museums. The city boasts one of the best collections of public art in the country and the world’s largest municipal park.
Philadelphia falls in the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate zone. Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold.
It was in Philadelphia that many of the ideas, and subsequent actions, gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence. “The City of Brotherly Love” is home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, the site where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted, the meeting place of the First and Second Continental Congress and where the U.S. Constitution was signed. Did you know that Philadelphia served as the nation's first capital during much of the Revolutionary War and even after? Following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it was the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, D.C. was under construction!