History & local legend
Carpenters’ Hall stands back from Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, in a courtyard that leads to one of the central landmarks of the American Revolution. The First Continental Congress met here in 1774. The Carpenters’ Company has owned and operated the building since 1770, and its other early occupants included Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company and the American Philosophical Society.
The hall also appears on Philadelphia ghost-tour routes. In a 2021 Philadelphia Inquirer guide, Jonathan Bari, founder of the Spirits of ’76 tours, described unexplained noises, unusual smells, and what he called phantom footprints at the building.
