Mention Benjamin Franklin and two cities immediately come to mind -- Philadelphia, where he almost defined the word "citizenship," and Paris, where he was a US commissioner to France from 1776 to 1785.
Yet few people associate Franklin with London, where he lived for nearly twice the length of time he did in Paris. And although he did much for Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love," he played an equally significant role in the founding of America while living in England.
Now Franklin's home away from home for most of 1757 to 1775 is open to the public for the first time -- the result of an eight-year, US$5.33 million conservation project.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
Near Trafalgar Square, steps from the River Thames, it is Franklin's only remaining residence in the world and in many ways the first de facto US embassy. It was while living here that Franklin disputed the right of Parliament to tax the American colonies without representation and then leaked the famous Hutchinson letters from the Crown, which the British believed contributed to the Boston Tea Party.
Franklin left England, after living there for nearly 16 years, when Parliament publicly reprimanded him for his role in the Hutchinson affair and further diplomatic efforts seemed futile.
Franklin's house is not the only American historical site worth visiting in England. The former mother country is, in fact, dotted with both large and small tributes to American history and culture. No need to feel homesick here if you are American.
The Thomas Paine trail
Even though Thomas Paine was once considered a traitor who spurred the American colonies to revolt, his hometown, Thetford, has now devoted itself to celebrating the life and writings of one of the most influential leaders of the American and French Revolutions. Paine, who was perhaps best known in America for helping incite revolt with his pamphlet "Common Sense," lived in Thetford, where he began developing many of his political views, until the age of 19.
Visitors can walk the trail with the aid of a free Paine trail leaflet, the trail passes by Paine's birthplace, old school, church and the library in which the Thomas Paine Collection is housed.
A statue of Paine stands in the center of town, and a museum, which is undergoing a refurbishment, will reopen later this year with a short film on Paine's life along with a collection of artifacts. Also note the plaque on the Thomas Paine Hotel, placed there by the US airmen in World War II who flew in a B-17 named Tom Paine at the nearby Knettishall airfield. The plane bore a quote from Paine, "Tyranny like hell, is not easily conquered."
Thetford Tourism and Heritage Partnership, King's House, King Street, Thetford, Norfolk; www.explorethetford.co.uk. Thetford is about 90 minutes from London by car.
The Plymouth `Mayflower' visitors center
Climb the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, the spot where it is believed the Pilgrims left English soil in 1620 bound for America. A Victorian plaque and tooled metal handle with vignettes of the Pilgrims' voyage and landing at Plymouth Rock commemorates the 66-day journey from Barbican Sutton, the medieval village and port in Plymouth, to Cape Cod.
At the nearby Island House, a 16th-century building where some of the Pilgrim fathers are believed to have stayed, is a plaque with the names of the 102 Pilgrims who boarded the ship. The Plymouth Mayflower Visitors Center, has audio and visual exhibits that tell the story of the Mayflower and Plymouth harbor.
The Plymouth Mayflower Visitors Center, 3, The Barbican, Plymouth; www.visitplymouth.co.uk. Plymouth is about four hours by train from London.
Washington's ancestor's homes
George Washington's last name would have been Hertburn (as would the US capital) if William de Hertburn, one of George's 12th-century ancestors, had not changed his name to that of the land he owned. Washington Old Hall, a 17th century manor house in Washington Village, incorporates part of the original medieval home of George Washington's ancestors from 1180 to 1613.
The house has a collection of portraits of George Washington, as well as illustrations of events depicting the struggle for American independence. Five kilometers from Washington, at Hylton Castle, visitors can see the Washington coat of arms -- three mullets (stars) and two bands (stripes) -- carved in stone on the west front of the ruined castle. It is said that the coat of arms was the inspiration for the American flag. The coat of arms is also carved into a wall at Sulgrave Manor, another ancestral home of Washington.
Washington Old Hall, Washington Village, Washington, Tyne and Wear; www.nationaltrust.org.uk; admission £4 (US$7). Tyne and Wear is a five-hour drive or a three-hour train ride from London.
Sulgrave Manor, Manor Road, Sulgrave, near Banbury, Oxfordshire; www.Sulgravemanor.org.uk. Admission £5.75 (US$10). Banbury is a one-hour train ride from London.
American Museum in Britain
One of the best collections of early American arts and crafts, including American Indian artifacts, was shipped 4,828km across the Atlantic in the late 1950s by Dallas Pratt, an American who founded this museum in Bath. His dream was to educate the British on American decorative arts. Exhibits include period rooms that display American woodwork, furniture, silver and glass from the 16th century to the American Civil War; an American textile collection that includes 19th-century quilts and Navajo rugs from the late 1800s; and outside, on the extensive grounds, a replica of Washington's garden at Mount Vernon.
Claverton Manor, Bath; www.Americanmuseum.org. Admission is £6.50 (US$11). Bath is a 90-minute drive from London.
Monuments to presidents
Grosvenor Square, now home to the US Embassy, was also once the home of John Adams, who served as the first US minister to the Court of St. James' from 1785 to 1788. A plaque on the house commemorates Adams, second president of the US. In the middle of the square is Britain's Memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt, an enormous statue of the president, unveiled in 1948 by Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Visitors to Parliament Square in London can see a full-size replica of the original Augustus Saint-Gaudens statue of Abraham Lincoln, which stands in Lincoln Park in Chicago. Although a different Lincoln statue, by George Barnard, was intended for this site, Lincoln's son, Robert, did not like it because of its slouching stance. He had the replica of the Saint-Gaudens statue put up in London and the Barnard statue sent to Manchester, England.
In Runnymede Meadow by the Thames, 30km from London, stands the John F. Kennedy Memorial on its own acre of land, given by the people of Britain to the US, honoring the memory of the assassinated president.
The Benjamin Franklin House
And, at Franklin's house, there's more than just a house. Visitors are treated to a historical experience, integrating live performance with cutting-edge sound, lighting and projection technology, as they are taken back in time to Franklin's emotional last evening in London. Advance online booking is recommended; the adult admission price is £8 (US$13.80).
36 Craven St, London WC2; www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org. Open Wednesday to Sunday all year.
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