It was so great to be in Philadelphia for Fourth of July weekend. The crowds were big and wherever I went the tours given by NPS rangers and museum officials were uniformly excellent. I got a lot to go on for some projects in the works. This was the scene earlier today at the reopening ceremony for Carpenters’ Hall. I’m glad they managed to get the site open by the Fourth of July after an extensive renovation complicated by an arson fire this past December that destroyed some of the mechanical infrastructure in the basement. As time passes I increasingly internalize history’s Rule #1: Go there. There is no substitute.