As famed city historian Henry Bisbee wrote, “When Philly was but a gleam in Billy’s eye, Burlington was here!” Indeed, Burlington was already settled before William Penn started collecting land on the other side of the Delaware River. The city kept up its early pace to greatness when it beame the capital of West Jersey, played host to Ben Franklin on more than one occasion, and saw the birth of great American novelist James Fenimore Cooper just next door to where famed Naval Captain James Lawrence was born eight years earlier. The ghosts of the greats that haunt Burlington can be found on every street, in every house, and in every store. Burlington produced not just great individuals, though, but also great societies. The town rallied to the defence of freed slave Severin Martin as he was about to be arrested, and what is now Wheatley’s Pharmacy and the black barber shop on Union Street were hotbeds of abolitionist activity. History continued to be made as Burlington transformed into an immigrant-dominated shoemaking city, and James Birch ushered in the industrial age with hhis carriage company. Take a stroll along the streets and you’ll find history everywhere. All you have to do is look