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First Stop: Juniper Street, Where Nig-Nag Once Lived

Juniper Street currently is located between 13th and Broad Streets, and Market and Chestnut Streets near City Hall. In 1855, in The Price of a Child, this street was full of crowded shacks, one of which was the part-time residence of the character Nig-Nag.

Second Stop: Market Street, Where the Elephants Played

Market Street, or High Street as it was once called, has a long history in Philadelphia. It was home to the Meeting House of the Society of Friends, a popular meeting place for Philadelphia Quakers. It housed many fine inns and theatres. Places like the Blue Anchor Tavern, the Penny Pot House, Clark’s Inn, and the Coffee House were all once well-known establishments on Market Street. In The Price of a Child, Market Street was a place where you could go and see elephants—an enticing proposition for young Maddy.

Third Stop: Delaware and Dock Street, Where the Ferry Docked

This is the fateful location at which Virginia boarded the ferry and took a stand for freedom. Dock Street, unlike most of Philadelphia’s streets, is curvy and irregular. The area it now covers was once a stream connecting to the Delaware River which made it a suitable place to dock canoes and boats. Several industries like breweries, tanneries, and lumberyards, which benefited from the access to water, located their workplaces nearby. In the early days of Philadelphia, Dock Street was a hangout for pirates like Captain Kidd and Blackbeard. For a variety of reasons, one of which was sanitation, the creek was filled in and a street was formed that housed marts and shops.

Fourth Stop: Pine Street, Where the Quick Family Lived

The Quicks and many other African Americans in Philadelphia in 1855 lived in neighborhoods in what we now call South Philadelphia and which then included the wards of Cedar, Locust, New Market, and Pine.

Fifth Stop: Mother Bethel Church

Richard Allen, who was born a slave but who worked to buy his freedom for $2,000, was the founder of Mother Bethel A.M. E. Church. He began by preaching at Philadelphia’s St. George Methodist Church but left to form a church in which African Americans would not be treated as second class members forced to sit in the back of the church and then, the balcony. He joined with Absalom Jones to form the Free African Society (FAS), the headquarters of which they later used to hold church services. Allen saw the society begin to be heavily influenced by Quaker customs, which he felt were contrary to needs of the African American worshipers. Allen bought land for a church at 6th and Lombard in the historic African American community, but the political forces in the FAS wanted the church built at 5th and Walnut Streets in a predominantly white neighborhood. They also wanted the church to be Episcopalian rather than Methodist, the preferred denomination of both Jones and Allen. Jones agreed to head the church, which was named the Saint Thomas African Episcopal Church. After his valiant service in combating the Yellow Fever Epidemic, Allen was granted permission to build the Mother Bethel Church at 6th and Lombard. He became active in helping slaves escape to freedom, and the basement of his church was sometimes a stop on the Underground Railroad. The current address given for the church is 419 Richard Allen Avenue at the northeast corner of Sixth and Richard Allen Avenue. The ground on which the church is built is the oldest parcel of land continuously owned by African Americans in the United States.

Sixth Stop: 46th and Girard, Former Site of the Olive Cemetery

The author, Lorene Cary, in her research for the book, uncovered the name and site of the cemetery where the Quick family are buried. In an informative article in the January 5, 2003 Inquirer Magazine, Lorene shares that this same site is now where Blankenburg Elementary is located. She notes that other old downtown African American cemeteries were dug up for redevelopment and that when no family was located to return the headstones, some were used to shore up the banks of the Schuylkill River.

Seventh Stop: Fifth and Chestnut Streets, Former site of the Philadelphia Library Company

In 1731, Ben Franklin and the members of Junto, a philosophical society, signed an agreement to form a lending library. They pooled their resources to purchase books that they could share and discuss. Their first purchases were books that dealt with religion and educational issues. As they grew, they moved to new locations including what is now Independence Hall and later, the second floor of Carpenter’s Hall. In 1789, they purchased land and commissioned an architect to erect a building at Fifth and Chestnut Street. The Library Company is now located at 1314 Locust Street.

Eighth Stop: Mole Street, Where the Fugitive Slaves Made Their Home

Because of the Fugitive Slave Law, escaped slaves had to live very cautiously. In The Price of a Child, a number of fugitive slaves lived on Mole Street, which can be located by turning right at the Clef Club located on South Broad Street and walking towards 18th Street.

Ninth Stop: 10th and Reed Streets, Former Site of Moyamensing Prison

Passmore Williamson was a resident of the Moyamensing Prison, which was opened in 1835 and closed in 1963. It was located at what is now 10th and Reed Streets and currently on that site is an Acme Supermarket.

NOTE: The Library Company has a wonderful online site, Jane Johnson Online Exhibit, with a map showing Bloodgood Hotel (Walnut Street and Delaware Avenue), the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society Office (153 N. 5th Street), and Passmore Williamson’s Office (7th and Arch Streets) which you can access at http://www.librarycompany.org/JaneJohnson/. You may want to add these places to your tour.