Up and down Germantown Avenue, people gathered to celebrate the Fourth of July while learning about the country’s past and Philadelphia’s role in the Revolutionary War. At three historic properties on Germantown Avenue—Cliveden, the Concord School and adjacent Upper Burying Ground and the Johnson House—special events took place in honor of Independence Day.

At Cliveden of the National Trust, actor Leonard Dozier appeared as the Rev. Richard Allen, who was born into slavery to the Chew family and went on to buy his freedom and establish Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Allen delivered his eulogy for President George Washington in period costume and answered questions about his life and work.

Visitors were also able to take free tours of the buildings at Cliveden including the recently opened Servant’s Quarters. Once owned by the Chew family, Cliveden was a key site in the 1777 Battle of Germantown, where 150 Americans died trying to fight British troops barricaded in the house.

At 2 p.m., just blocks down the street at the Concord Schoolhouse, people collected in the Upper Burying Ground to listen to the schoolhouse bell toll 235 times—once for every year since the birth of the country in 1776.

John Pollack, president of the Concord School House, stressed that education was part of commemorating historical events.

“We are learning more [about these buildings] all the time,” he said, “discovering what we know and what we don’t know (about our history)."

The Upper Burying Ground was set aside in 1693 as a public burial space and continued to be used as such into the early 20th century. A diverse group of people are buried there, said Pollock, across class lines and ethnic and racial divisions. There are also “many hundreds of children” laid to rest in the cemetery.

In 1775 members of the community decided they needed a local place to educate their children, so they took a portion of unused land from the cemetery and built the Concord School. The one-room schoolhouse remains today, preserved as an historic site to be visited by the public. The second story and bell tower were added in 1818.

The Upper Burying Ground had been neglected for years until an all-volunteer group—the Board of Trustees of the Concord School House and Upper Burying Ground—cleaned it up and reopened it to the public.

“We’ve really reclaimed the spot,” said David Young, executive director of Cliveden and vice president of the board of the Concord School.

Young said there is strong a connection between Cliveden, Concord, and the Johnson House, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

“All three of these structures were built by the same person (John Johnson), and he’s buried right over there,” Young said, as he pointed to the far end of the Upper Burying Ground. “These three buildings were here the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, and they remain here so we can figure out the meaning of the document in our own lives."

The Upper Burying Ground and Concord School House continue to be open on the second Saturday of every month for public visitation and tours from 1 to 4 p.m.