News

Philadelphia Cultural Fund award 2022

We are delighted to announce that the Concord School House and Upper Burying Ground has once again received a generous grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. This vital award will provide support for our 2022 events, for operations and for site management. Learn more about the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and its programs.

Black History month 2022: Highlighting Black history in Germantown and at Concord

On February 3, 2022, the Philadelphia Inquirer published "13 Museums and cultural landmarks that Showcase Black history in Philadelphia." The article includes multiple sites in Historic Germantown and notes that visitors to Concord can learn about Black students who attended school and about abolitionists who used the schoolhouse for meetings. Learn more about Black history at Concord.

Juneteenth 2021: Celebration draws record attendance

We were pleased to have nearly 400 visitors during Germantown's Juneteenth festival. The two performances of The Slave Narratives drew 325. View video of events including The Slave Narratives (by CTC you). Learn more about this event.

December 2020: A Wish for Concord

October 3, 2020: Revolutionary Germantown Festival, reimagined

How do we remember a battle, a war, a revolution?

Our site will be open from noon-4pm and offer self-guided tours. Masks and social distancing required.

More information about the Revolutionary Germantown Festival. Download self-guided walking tour.

August 22, 2020: Back to School

Despite the challenges of schooling posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we set up to support our community by distributing school supplies, as we do annually. With social distancing guidelines in place, we welcomed 55 adults and 15 children. We are grateful to our sponsors: 6300 Block Business Alliance; Elfant Wissahickon Realtors; New Covenant Church of Philadelphia. View flyer for this event. View photos of this event.

July 4, 2020: Special Performance: Jahzeer Terrell, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

We gratefully acknowledge the Pennsylvania Abolition Society for grant funding in support of this program. More information. Watch on YouTube

Also: Read reflections on this event by Jackie Jonas.

Juneteenth 2020: Special Virtual Performance of "The Slave Narratives"

We are pleased to present a virtual performance of "The Slave Narratives: 400 Years of Resilience." We gratefully acknowledge the Pennsylvania Abolition Society for grant funding in support of this program. More information. View program. Watch on Facebook | Watch on YouTube

Memorial Day 2020: Memory, Solidarity, Hope

Although our site is closed, we offer an album of images:

In Memory of Our Losses

In Solidarity with our Communities

In Hope of a Stronger Future

August 17, 2019: Back to School Supply donation event draws over two hundred

The 10th Annual Back to School Backpack Giveaway at the Concord Schoolhouse event was held on Saturday, August 17, from 10:00am-noon. 126 children and 78 adults visited and received supplies for the new school year. More information.

July 4, 2019: The Poetry of Freedom

Following the annual bell-ringing ceremony, a group of poets from our region joins together to read their work, and the work of Walt Whitman, in a series of reflections on the meanings of freedom. More information. View photos and video of this event.

June 15, 2019: Juneteenth

For the 2019 Juneteenth Festival, The Johnson House and the Concord School House and Upper Burying Ground of Germantown present a site specific performance of The Slave Narratives: 400 Years of Resilience, performed by the Grounded Theater Company. Based on interviews of formerly enslaved people gathered during the 1930s, the play provides a window into their lives during and after slavery. Further information. View the program. View photos of this event.

October 6, 2018

The annual Battle of Germantown reenactment featured a solemn ceremony by the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment in honor of a comrade who fell during the battle and is laid to rest in the Upper Burying Ground. View photos of this ceremony.

July 4, 2018

Vernyce Dannells and Jackie Jonas performed "Liberty Gained, Liberty Delayed," part of the Freedom Stories initiative. View photos of the event and of the July 4 celebration.

May 2018

Concord receives grant from Pennsylvania Abolition Society to support Freedom Stories.

We are pleased to announced that we have received a grant of $1000 from the Pennsylvania Abolition Society to support development of programming on Juneteenth and July 4.

More information about the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.

November 2016

Renovation Celebration

Friends of Concord assembled to inspect the fully-renovated second floor apartment in the Concord School House. Upgrades were made to plumbing, electrical systems, heating, and hot water systems; the pine floors were refinished; the kitchen and bathrooms were fully upgraded with new furnishings and appliances; and all rooms were completely repainted. Carpentry repairs were made to upper story windows. Lower story windows and shutters were also repainted.

October 2016

Honoring the Legacy of Cornelius Tyson

On Sunday, October 9, 2016,members of the Tyson family and community friends gathered to dedicate a marker in front of the gravestone of Cornelius Tyson (1652-1716), the oldest gravestone in the Upper Burying Ground and one of the oldest in the region.

Event Flyer

Brochure on Cornelius Tyson and the Marker Project

February 2016

Concord receives Saving Our Sites (SOS) grant

We are delighted to announce that we have received a grant of $6,000 from Historic Germantown for the conservation and restoration of the historic tombstone of John Sitgreaves, a central part of the Upper Burying Ground. Work will take place in the summer of 2016. Learn more about Sustaining our Sites and about the 2016 recipients.

August 2015

Back to School 2015

Read coverage of the 6th annual Back to School supply donation event in Newsworks.


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, "A Fourth with Feeling." We are grateful to Ken for permission to repost his article on our site.

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.