SharonA,

If you need another musical tie in, I seem to remember having seen an Elvis movie that was shown on the Mercer Museum one evening a few years ago--

Just up the road from my old house in Teleford PA on Allentown Rd,(which, according to local legend, was the escape route for the Liberty Bell, and other gov't stuff when the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777) just between Trumbauersville and Milford Square is is the John Fries house--Fries was the leader of "The Hotwater Rebellion",also called the "Fries Rebellion" in 1799, which was an armed resistance to the Federal Government by local farmers, who mistakenly believed that tax assessors were measuring their windows in order to impose a "Window Tax"--The local women drew "first blood" when the poured tubs of scalding water on the assessors--the farmers got out the rifles. forced the assesors out, freed prisoners from the prison in Bethlehem--Federal troops came in, quelled the insurgency, Fries and several others were tried, sentenced to be hung for treason, but Fries at least, was pardoned--

There is also an old and still functioning inn at Spinnerstown, just off PA Rt. 663(also called "John Fries Hwy") which is said to have been the central meeting place for the rebellious farmers--I can't find the name, off hand, or the address, but Spinnerstown isn't that big--the food is very good, not very expensive, and the story is recounted on the placemats, and it isn't far from Shwenksville--

I can't even list all the obscure but interesting places in Philly, there are so many that it puts all other American cities to shame--from the Mutter Museum of Medical Oddities(if you like human body body parts and Formaldehyde, this is your mecca!) to the Insectarium with it famous cockroach infested kitchen(a favorite with school kids) to the notorious Eastern State Penntentiary, to Rodin's famous sculpture, "The Thinker", to the sight of the first manned flight in America(no, it wasn't in either North Carolina or Ohio), to the site of America's first race riot, to the beginning of the Mason-Dixon line--to the Betsy Ross house where you will learn that she didn't sew the first Stars and Stripes flag--

The big Philly Icon, the Liberty Bell itself,is worth a visit, if only to hear the tour guides explain that its, true story is considerably different from it's "history book" story. The Bell was cast and given to Philadelphia in 1750 by the Crown, probably to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the "Charter of Privileges"--it was not hanging in Independence Hall on July 4, 1776, may not have been rung at all that time--the name "Liberty Bell" came from its use by abolitionists many years later--the cracks came about as a result of bungling and mishandling, the explanation probably is best left to the entertaining and good-humored guides, who you will see, should you decide to make the pilgrimage--they delight in bursting the tourists bubbles.

For a musical tie in, you might choose one or more of the melodies associated with "The World Turned Upside Down" which was likely played by captured Hessian Soldiers to celebrate the Declaration, which was accompanied by drinken revelry, brawling, and arson--Fourth of July traditions that continue in Philadelphia to this day--