Pennsylvania
Genesee Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founded 1681 by William Penn as a Quaker Commonwealth. Birthplace of THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1681 King Charles II granted William Penn a sweeping American territory, which Penn shaped into a Quaker commonwealth built on religious freedom and representative government. That founding ethos helped make the colony the setting for the drafting of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. This marker welcomes travelers into Pennsylvania with a reminder of that legacy.
Why it matters
Pennsylvania's founding principle of liberty of conscience directly informed the documents at the heart of American self-government.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- The Little Gem9.7 mi away · 130 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY
- Mather Homestead Museum10.0 mi away
Attractions
- Triangle 1 Monument10.0 mi away
Food & drink
- Dunkin'9.2 mi away · 38 West Dyke Street, Wellsville, NY
- L'Italia9.6 mi away · 105 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY
- Texas Hot9.7 mi away · 136 1/2 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY
- Better Days9.8 mi away
- The Duke House9.9 mi away · 244 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY
- Las Brasas Mexican Grill9.9 mi away · 3202 Andover Road, Wellsville, NY
Places to stay
- Microtel Inns & Suites by Wyndham Wellsville9.3 mi away · 30 West Dyke Street, Wellsville, NY
- Budget Inn9.9 mi away · 3306 Andover Road, Wellsville, NY
- Long Vue Inn & Suites11.0 mi away
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Penn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Major Moses Van Campen
Town of Caneadea, NY
In 1782, as the Revolutionary War's frontier violence dragged on in western New York, the American soldier Major Moses Van Campen was taken captive by the Senecas — the "keepers of the Western Door" of the Iroquois Confederacy. At their village along the Genesee River near Caneadea, he was forced to run the gauntlet, a customary ordeal, racing some thirty rods to the Seneca council house. That council house survived and was later relocated and preserved in Letchworth State Park, a tangible link to this dramatic moment.
Pennsylvania
Foster Township, PA · est. 1949
This keystone marker salutes the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania itself, founded in 1681 when William Penn received his charter and launched a Quaker "holy experiment" grounded in religious tolerance and representative government. A century later, Pennsylvania stood at the center of the nation's birth, hosting in Philadelphia both the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the framing of the United States Constitution in 1787. Few places carry so much of the American founding.
Sullivan's Pack Horses Marker
Village of Horseheads, NY
In the autumn of 1779, General John Sullivan led a punishing military expedition through the lands of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, part of a scorched-earth campaign ordered by George Washington during the Revolutionary War. As the weary army withdrew through what is now the Chemung Valley, Sullivan's exhausted pack horses—broken down after weeks of hard marching—were put down near this spot. The bleached skulls left behind so struck later travelers and settlers that the place came to be called Horseheads, a name the village still carries today.
Pennsylvania
South Creek Township, PA · est. 1948
This marker greets travelers at the Pennsylvania line with the colony's founding story: chartered in 1681 to William Penn as a Quaker commonwealth built on religious tolerance and fair dealing. A century later, Philadelphia became the cradle of the American nation, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were both debated and signed. Few places can claim so central a role in the birth of the republic.