Mikveh Israel Cemetery
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founded 1740. Notables buried here include Nathan Levy, whose ship brought the Liberty Bell to America; Haym Salomon, Revolutionary patriot; the Gratz family; and Aaron Levy, founder of Aaronsburg.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Founded in 1740, this is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the United States and the resting place of some of colonial and Revolutionary America's most notable Jewish families. Among those buried here are Nathan Levy, whose ship carried the Liberty Bell across the Atlantic; Haym Salomon, the broker whose financing helped sustain the American Revolution; and the prominent Gratz and Levy families. Their graves testify to a Jewish community woven into Philadelphia life from its earliest colonial days.
Why it matters
It preserves the memory of a founding-era Jewish community whose members helped finance independence and build American commerce, an early chapter in the nation's story of religious pluralism and immigration.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Bridgette Mayer0.2 mi away · 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Congress Hall0.3 mi away · Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Hall0.4 mi away · 520 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Philosophical Hall0.4 mi away · PA
- Old City Hall0.4 mi away · Philadelphia
- Liberty Bell Center0.4 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia
Attractions
- Liberty Bell0.4 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Second Bank of the United States0.4 mi away · 420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- President's House0.4 mi away
- Carpenters' Hall0.5 mi away · 320 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Italian market0.5 mi away · Christian Street
- First Bank of the United States0.5 mi away · 120 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
Food & drink
- Talula's Garden0.1 mi away · 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Talula's Daily0.2 mi away · 208 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Fat Salmon0.2 mi away · 719 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cafe Walnut0.2 mi away · 703 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Maya's Pizza & Grill0.2 mi away · 716 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Thank You Thank You Coffee Roasters0.2 mi away · 700 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Morris House Hotel0.1 mi away · 225 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- AKA Washington Square0.2 mi away · 834 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Alexander Inn0.3 mi away · 301 301 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Philadelphia, PA
- Fairfield Inn & Suites0.4 mi away · 261 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Canopy by Hilton Philadelphia Center City0.4 mi away · 1180 Ludlow Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Holiday Inn Express0.4 mi away · 1305-11 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Nathan Levy
- · Haym Salomon
- · Aaron Levy
- · Gratz family
Related events
- · American Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Haym Salomon (1740-1785)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1997
Haym Salomon arrived in America around 1772, an immigrant who threw himself into the Revolutionary cause and was twice imprisoned by the British. From Philadelphia he worked as a broker and money-lender, extending enormous credit to help keep the struggling war effort and the young government solvent. Active in the city's Jewish community, he was never repaid and died in debt.
David Salisbury Franks (c.1740-1793)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2004
David Salisbury Franks was among the small number of Jewish officers to serve the American cause during the Revolution, rising to major and serving as aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold. When Arnold's treason was exposed, suspicion inevitably fell on the men closest to him, and Franks endured investigation before being formally cleared and going on to diplomatic service. He died in Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever epidemic and, having no coreligionists to bury him, was laid to rest at Christ Church by a Christian neighbor.
Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2000
For a year or so after 1815, this Philadelphia house sheltered Joseph Bonaparte — Napoleon's elder brother and the deposed king of Naples and later Spain — as he began his long American exile following the collapse of the Napoleonic empire. In these rooms gathered Bonapartist refugees and French émigrés, a small colony of the defeated regime finding footing in the young republic. Joseph would go on to build a grand estate at Point Breeze in New Jersey and live in America for years before returning to Europe.
Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2023
Founded in 1787 by German-speaking Catholics who wanted to worship and pass on their traditions in their own language, Holy Trinity became the first German national parish in the United States. Its church rose in 1788–1789, and within a few years its congregation and cemetery included African Americans and refugees from the upheaval in Saint-Domingue, buried alongside parishioners of European descent. The model of the ethnic 'national parish' it pioneered would shape American Catholicism for generations before the parish finally closed in 2009.