October 01, 2025
Provided Image/Germantown Historical Society
Historic Germantown and Visit Philadelphia will launch the Historic Germantown One Pass, which offers admission to nine sites in the neighborhood. Above, the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion.
Germantown officials on Friday will start offering a pass that will give access to nine of the neighborhood's historic sites and museums.
The Historic Germantown One Pass, which is available until Nov. 22, allows one-time entrance to homes of prominent families, an Underground Railroad stop and museums on the history of slavery and the lives of Black women.
Each of the locations will extend their hours on Fridays and Saturdays and be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit Philadelphia, the city's tourism arm, will support the cost of additional staffing at the institutions.
Tuomi Forrest, the executive director of Historic Germantown, said there are about 150,000 to 200,000 visitors to the neighborhood's 20 attractions each year. The pass will offer a 60% discount on the price of admission to all nine destinations, something he hopes will incentivize more people to check them out.
"The idea is to make it very affordable, well-below the typical cost for tours if you're going to do two or three sites at once," Forrest said. "Really, the idea is encouraging people to say, 'Oh, wow, there's a lot more here than we realize. ... The range of what we have here is pretty tremendous.'"
Passes will be sold online and in-person at the historical society's headquarters at 5501 Germantown Ave. during operating hours. They are $43 for adults and $28 for children under 13 and seniors over 65. Admission is free for kids 5 and under.
Forrest said the release of the pass this fall will work as a pilot program, with hopes of bringing it back in 2026 when leaders expect an influx of tourists celebrating the semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He hopes it will help visitors look beyond the typical tourist attractions like Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, which are concentrated in Center City.
"Our work with Visit Philadelphia and other agencies is really, more broadly, looking to promote places like Germantown, Mount Airy, etc., to visitors who oftentimes just get steered toward a very small section of the city — which is great, but there's a whole lot more to see," Forrest said.
Here are details on the nine sites available with the pass:
• Cliveden (6401 Germantown Ave.): The site of the 1777 battle of Germantown is the longtime home of the Chew family, which were associates with William Penn and had a history of being slaveholders.
• The Colored Girls Museum (4613 Newhall St.): The institution shares the lives and achievements of ordinary Black girls and women.
• Concord School House (6309 Germantown Ave.): A former schoolroom from the 19th century on a portion of the Upper Burying Ground is one of the oldest cemeteries in Philadelphia.
• Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion (200 W. Tulpehocken St.): The mansion has been restored to resemble its original Victorian look from the 1860s to the 1910s, when the Maxwell and Hunter-Stevenson families lived on the property.
• Germantown Historical Society (5501 Germantown Ave): The building includes a museum and library on the neighborhood's history, including early artifacts.
• Johnson House (6306 Germantown Ave.): The Johnson family were Quaker abolitionists and they used the building to secure safe passage for escaped slaves traveling the Underground Railroad.
• Lest We Forget Slavery Museum (5501 Germantown Ave.): The museum offers an in-depth look at the reality of slavery in America, including artifacts such as shackles, branding irons and Jim Crow objects that negatively depict African Americans. It is typically only available for tours by appointment.
• Stenton (4601 N. 18th St.): The 300-year old former home of the Logan family, which were prominent Quakers, includes antique furniture and artifacts as well as a Colonial Revival garden and a modern interpretation of an 18th century garden.
• Wyck Historic House and Garden (6026 Germantown Ave.): The 2.5-acre site includes a garden, farm and house that was once a Quaker homestead. Its residents included the founders of Wistarburgh Glass Works in New Jersey, which was one of the first glass factories in the colonies. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
