In honor of America 250, Pennsylvania Postcards will focus on the people, places, and events that best commemorate this U.S. milestone and our Commonwealth's crucial role in it.
In the heart of downtown Philadelphia is Washington Square Park. Long before it was a peaceful city refuge it served as a burial ground, and during the Revolutionary War it became the final resting place for potentially thousands of soldiers who died nearby and whose identities were never discovered.
In the 1950s, the city decided to create a memorial in their honor, the Tomb of the Revolutionary War Unknown Soldier. The crypt actually holds the remains of one unearthed, unidentified soldier representing the many who were never able to be honored. Above the tomb is written the quote, freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness.