Once Upon A Nation - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nestor M.

Bueno

Joy P.

Once Upon a Nation was by far the BEST part of our historic tour of Philadelphia. It made our day and our trip! Hard to believe it’s offered for free. After we stumbled on one storyteller, we made it a point to see every single one. The quality of the stories and the storytelling was incredible at each and every stop. So engaging, great context for the city, our country. Bringing history to life! We even got a copy of Common Sense. I could not recommend this highly enough. I want everyone to know about it. Seek out every bench and get ready for history brought to life.

Orion's H.

I was searching for an educational activity for my 8-year-old grandson and came across Once Upon A Nation. What a wonderful discovery! We began our journey at Independence Square and made our way to the final storytelling bench in Franklin Square. Along the way, he was often given a choice of stories—and he enjoyed them so much that he sometimes asked to hear two stories!

The storytellers are incredibly engaging and skilled, capturing his attention at every stop. It's a shame more people don’t know about this unique experience—it’s a fun and memorable way to learn lesser-known facts about American history. I was especially impressed that they also include African-American history stories. When we return (and we absolutely will), I plan to request those stories at each bench.

At the end of the tour, participants who collect a star at every bench can claim a prize in Franklin Square. The full experience took us about 2.5 hours, including a much-needed air-conditioned break at the Visitor Center (where there's also a storytelling bench).

This is a fantastic, FREE educational outing for children and adults alike. I highly recommend it—take your kids, take yourself, and enjoy learning some fun and surprising history!

Kristen H.

Lane at Independence Square was amazing and so animated in his storytelling! I was impressed by his knowledge and friendliness. We learned about painter Charles Wilson Peale, which a portrait of his you can see down the street at the Museum of the American Revolution. Great job, Lane, and Once Upon a Nation keeping history alive and entertaining!

Brenna B.

Amazing! My kids loved this! There are 8 posts around the Liberty Bell sites (Betsy Ross House, Carpenter House, Constitution museum) where a story tell is dressed in green. Amazing stories and story tellers for free. They also have a flag sit kids to collect stars. I had my kids take notes on it, just jog their memories. Phil and Courtney were impressive storytellers but all the sites were great! Highly recommend and it’s free.

Amanda F. (. V. V.

Was site seeing with an 11 and 8.5 year old. We all loved the story benches, very engaging way for us all to learn more about Philadelphia and some of the interesting characters that lived here. 😀

Matthew W.

Stumbled upon this while visiting Philadelphia, and it became the highlight of our day! All the story tellers were incredibly talented, and the stories were so important, and held our children’s attention.

Juanita J.

We stumbled upon our first Once Upon a Nation storyteller outside the Betsy Ross house. A cheerful voice greeted us with "would you like to hear a story? "
We sat down and were entertained by an animated storyteller who told us great stories with obvious relish. Her name was Heron and we learned things from her that enhanced our visit to the Old City of Philadelphia. We were excited to run into her the next day as well at Carpenter's Hall.
If you are in Philadelphia and see one of these storytellers stop and enjoy a story that will be well worth your time!