Colonial

No one seems to know exactly how many people are buried in Fishtown’s Palmer Cemetery. Created for the community by the merchant Anthony Palmer in the 1730s, the cemetery has been such a popular final destination for residents over the generations that the community’s historians have lost count of its eternal tenants, which could number as high as 50,000.

Narrated by Danny Glover, Petty's Island: A Sacred Part of America’s Story reveals the legacy of an island with a unique place in the historic encounter between Africans, Europeans and Native Americans in the Philadelphia region. Situated in the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden, Petty’s Island was Lenni-Lenape land before colonial European slave traders utilized it as a depot for enslaved Africans in the 1600s. The 292 acre island is now a defunct oil terminal owned by the Citco Corporation.

The Nicetown neighborhood in North Philadelphia has been known to suffer from an undeserved joke: that there is nothing "nice" here. However, many residents are quick to differ, pointing to the neighborhood's community life and historic attractions. The Nicetown Community Development Corporation, for example, offers a wealth of neighborhood programs including housing counseling, adult basic education, computer literacy, and social service referrals.