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News | Newsletter
July, 2012
July 4 attendance and news coverage
Approximately 80 enthusiastic visitors attended this year's July 4 celebrations at Concord, planned in collaboration with our partners in Historic Germantown. The Concord School bell was rung 100 times. Read coverage of the day in The Philadelphia Daily News and at newsworks.org.Concord Receives Generous Grant from Knorr Family Foundation
The Knorr Family Foundation has made a contribution of $2500 to the Concord School House and Upper Burying Ground. Jacob Knorr was the builder of the Concord School House in 1775; he also founded a joiner’s shop next door that later became the Kirk & Nice funeral home. Jacob Knorr and twenty-two Knorr family members lie at rest in the Upper Burying Ground. We express our sincere thanks to the Knorr family for reconnecting with us and supporting our work.April, 2012
2012 Events and openings announced
Our lineup of public openings and special events is now available on our Visit page. For the first time, Concord and the Upper Burying Ground will be open on Memorial Day (Monday, May 28), which this year is also our annual Whit Monday public board meeting. In cooperation with Historic Germantown partners Hood Cemetery and Grumblethorpe, we will be offering guided tours, and Grumblethorpe youth volunteers will have refreshments for sale on site.Philadelphia Cultural Fund grant
For the sixth consecutive year, Concord School House and Upper Burying Ground received a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. This award will be used for general site operating expenses and for special maintenance projects, including the repair of the basement bulkhead doors.
October, 2011
Revolutionary Germantown Festival joins Open Studio Tours
In an unusual pairing, Concord School House and the Upper Burying Ground welcomes two simultaneous events on October 1 and 2. On Saturday the 1st, we mark the annual anniversary of the Battle of Germantown. At 2pm, the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment will honor their regiment's soldiers who lost their lives that day with a Burial Ground ceremony. On both Saturday and Sunday, the site will be open until 6pm as one of the new Community Partners of Philadelphia Open Studio. More information on Open Studio here and on Concord's part here.
July, 2011
July 4 celebration in the news
Read coverage of the July 4 activities at Concord and Upper Burying Ground in the Mount Airy Patch. Leonard Dozier appeared as the Reverend Richard Allen, and the bell tolled 235 times. Remarks by President John Pollack and Vice President David Young are included.
June, 2011
A successful Juneteenth
Juneteenth celebrations on June 18, 2011 brought numerous visitors to sites and stores along the 6300 Block of Germantown Avenue. 11 visited Concord and the Burying Ground. Read coverage of the Juneteenth events from Newsworks.org here.
May, 2011
The Frugal Traveler pays a visit
Read in The New York Times (May 3, 2011) about Frugal Traveler Seth Kugel's visit to sites along Germantown Avenue, including the Upper Burying Ground and Concord (from the outside). The Traveler writes, "...the historic spot that I liked the most was the Upper Burying Ground, next to the 1775 Concord School House."
May, 2011
Public hours and events for 2011 to begin on May 7
We will reopen to the public in May, 2011 with an added opening day: Mt. Airy Day, Saturday, May 7.
This year, public visiting days have been moved to the second Saturday of each month, from 1pm to 4pm. Full details are on our Visit page.
April, 2011
Story and videos on Temple's Philadelphia Neighborhoods site
"Germantown: Historic School and Gravesite in ‘Sweet Concord’" is an online feature story produced and edited by James Riggio and Max Webber. The report features interviews and video footage of the schoolhouse and graveyard. Philadelphia Neighborhoods is a publication of the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab at Temple University.
September, 2010
Schoolhouse hosts back-to-school event
In cooperation with the 6300 Block of Germantown Avenue Alliance, Concord proudly hosted a back-to-school donation event for neighborhood children on September 11, 2010. Approximately 45 children attended, along with parents, grandparents, and other visitors.
July, 2010
Memorable Fourth of July at Concord
The school house and burying ground welcomed about seventy-five visitors to our annual bell-ringing ceremony this year, organized in cooperation with our partners in Historic Germantown. Vice President David Young presided over the ceremony and bell-ringing. As David announced to the crowd before the 234 rings (one for each year since Independence), “Downtown, they only tap the Liberty Bell. Here
in Germantown we ring it.”
Concord was featured in Ken Finkel's Redbricker blog on philly.brownstowner.com: Read Ken's piece, "A Fourth with Feeling," here.
May, 2010
Second Sunday Public Hours announced for 2010
For the second year, we will be open to the public on "Second Sunday" afternoons, from 2-4pm May-October. See our Visit page for further details. This year, the Hood Cemetery (Lower Burying Ground) of Germantown will also be open on Second Sundays. More information about the Hood Cemetery is available at: http://www.hoodcemetery.org.
March, 2010
Concord / Upper Burying Ground receives Philadelphia Cultural Fund Grant
For the fourth straight year, we have received a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which supports arts groups and historic sites through the city. The mission of the Fund is to provide “general operating support funds to serve Philadelphia-based arts and cultural institutions and organizations.” This year, Concord will receive $3,758. The site reviewer was positive about the continuing efforts of the board to promote the site and attract neighborhood interest and support, and its responsible budgeting practices. Plans for allocating the Cultural Fund grant will be worked out during the spring.
January, 2010
Germantown Friends School visits Concord/UBG
As part of the seventh grade History curriculum, classes from Germantown Friends School visited the site on January 28 and 29. Despite chilly conditions, students gave presentations in the burial ground, vividly recreating characters including a student at the school in its early years and a soldier during the Battle of Germantown.
November, 2009
Tree-trimming day in the Upper Burying Ground
Arborist Paul Freda maneuvered through the trees around the schoolhouse and performed some needed maintenance on a number of them. Caretaker David Mitchell and other willing volunteers offered assistance from below.
October, 2009
Battle of Germantown draws crowds
The annual renactment of the Battle of Germantown drew over 130 visitors to see the school and the burial ground. At the 2:00pm ceremony, members of the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment marked the death of one of their own, Lieutenant Thomas Lucas, during the battle.
Newsletter: The Concord School Bell
In 2009, we began publication of The Concord School Bell, a newsletter detailing activities at our site. Numbers of the Bell are available for downloading as pdf files.
