Carpenters' Hall

10/30/2026

Are you interested in renting Carpenters' Hall for your holiday party or 2027 celebration? We are now accepting rental inquiries.

Our space can accommodate up to 80 people for a fully-seated dinner or around 125 people for a standing reception. Our chairs, high-top tables, rounds, and rectangular tables are all available to you at no additional cost.

Step into history by renting Carpenters' Hall for your next event! You can reach us directly by emailing Emily Winters at [email protected].

10/27/2026

We'd like to extend a warm thank you to those of you who gave yesterday during the Carpenters' Hall Day of Giving 2026. Our goal was to raise $17,774 to commemorate the final day of the First Continental Congress which met from September 5th to October 26th, 1774.

We raised a phenomenal $29,650!

Thank you for supporting Carpenters' Hall as we continue to offer public programming and stay free and open to the public Tuesdays to Sunday's from 10am to 4pm!

10/26/2026

Good news folks: it's the Carpenters' Hall Day of Giving - you can still donate to support our museum and public programming.

To mark the final day of the convening of the Continental Congress in Carpenters’ Hall (October 26th, 1774), the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia is seeking your aid in raising $17,774 in a single day!

If you give $100 or above on this day and this day only, we will mail you a free copy of the Meeting Place of History and admit you into the Delegates’ Circle annual giving circle! Help Carpenters’ Hall raise our goal of $17,774 by visiting our website or clicking the link in our bio!!

If we reach our goal, the donation will be matched by a generous board member!

10/26/2026

Hear ye, hear ye! It's the Carpenters' Hall Day of Giving!

To mark the final day of the convening of the Continental Congress in Carpenters’ Hall (October 26th, 1774), the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia is seeking your aid in raising $17,774 in a single day!

If you give $100 or above on this day and this day only, we will mail you a free copy of the Meeting Place of History and admit you into the Delegates’ Circle annual giving circle! Help Carpenters’ Hall raise our goal of $17,774 by visiting our website or clicking the link in our bio!!

If we reach our goal, the donation will be matched by a generous board member!

10/23/2026

We are excited to share information for an upcoming event hosted by our neighbors, American Philosophical Society! Check out the information below.

We are excited to invite you to "A Constitution for the 21st Century," on October 29, 2026, at Benjamin Franklin Hall (427 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA). The event will feature two panels from 3:00-5:00 p.m., one centered around "American Citizenship and Public Reason since 1776," and the other discussing "The Ethics of Invention at the Frontiers of Life." Following the panels, there will be a keynote lecture from 6:00-7:00 p.m., featuring Sheila Jasanoff, APS Member and Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School, with a response offered by Linda Greenhouse, fellow APS Member.

Read more about the event and register by visiting their website. In your webform registration, please indicate whether you would like to attend the panels, public lecture, or both. You may also attend virtually or in-person. If you have any questions about the event, please message [email protected].

10/23/2026

Thanks to City & State PA for this excellent story about our program last night with . Big takeaway: history still matters!

At Philadelphia’s Carpenters' Hall, the birthplace of the commonwealth, historian Colin Woodard explained how a pluralistic legacy birthed a perpetual swing state

10/23/2026

On Monday, the Carpenters' Hall team visited Mount Pleasant, the 1762 country estate of privateer John Macpherson. Mount Pleasant was designed and built by Carpenters' Company member, Thomas Nevell, in the Palladian-influenced Georgian style. After visiting in 1775, John Adams called it "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania." Benedict Arnold purchased the property in 1779 as a wedding present for his bride, Peggy Shippen. We enjoyed a wonderful tour led by Alexandra Kirtley, The Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Symmetry and proportionality abounded!

10/22/2026

We are pleased to announce that the deadline for this year's Robert Smith Memorial Scholarship, created in partnership with the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia, has been extended! The new deadline to apply is next Tuesday, October 27th!

This scholarship, established in 2024, provides an annual $10,000 scholarship for students and/or nascent professionals enrolled in trades education or entering the traditional trades in the Greater Philadelphia area. The goal of this scholarship is to encourage the growth of the traditional trades and to foster the next generation of trades professionals. The scholarship is named after architect of Carpenters' Hall and master builder Robert Smith (1722-1777) and hopes to increase appreciation for this history.

You can learn more and apply by visiting our website.

10/20/2026

Join us at Carpenters' Hall THIS Thursday, October 22nd from 5:30-7pm for “In Full Swing:" The Historical Roots of Pennsylvania Politics, a presentation by award-winning author, historian and researcher Colin Woodard.

In 1776 Carpenters’ Hall stood at the crossroads of the geographic and demographic tensions driving Pennsylvania politics, and today Pennsylvania is one of the nation’s most important electoral “swing” states. As we approach another consequential midterm election, join us to explore the historical roots of Pennsylvania’s divided politics, how they still resonate today, and how and where we can find common ground.

Award-winning author Colin Woodard, director of the Nationhood Lab at Salve Regina University in Providence, Rhode Island, dissects the origins of our regional divides and discusses his groundbreaking research into the values Americans still share.

General Admission is $5. You can purchase tickets on our website carpentershall.org/events.

10/19/2026

SAVE THE DATE! We are excited to announce that we will be holding a Day of Giving on October 26th, 2026, with the goal of raising an ambitious $17,744 in a single day. This date marks the final day that the First Continental Congress convened in Carpenters' Hall in 1774. Delegates began convening in Carpenters' Hall on September 5th.

Be on the lookout for Day of Giving announcements, and we hope to see you soon in Carpenters' Hall!