Birthplace of Our Nation's Flag

The Betsy Ross House is the birthplace of the American flag.   Betsy Ross was an upholsterer in Philadelphia who produced uniforms, tents and flags for the Continental forces.

Colonel George Ross a signer of the Declaration of Independence was her deceased husband’s uncle.  At church,  Betsy prayed in the pew next to George Washington and had already sewn buttons for him.

Late in May of 1776 three members from the Continental Congress came to her house.   George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross asked her to sew the first flag.

The Second Continental Congress resolved “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field”.    George Washington reportedly said “Let the 13th stars in a circle stand as a new constellation in the heavens”.

Working from a crude drawing, she changed the design from a star shaped six-pointed to five pointed.   Betsy said to George Washington  “your country’s flag behold” and through his tears dimmed eyes he saw the Stars and Stripes unfold

Born in January 1752 she was a Quaker and the 8th of 17 children and lived to be 84 years old.

It’s a self-guided tour that takes about 30 minutes and admission is only $8.

The painting by C H Wise Gerber in 1893 Birth of our Nation’s Flag,  immortalized the moment.   The original painting now in collections of the State Museum of Pennsylvania  in Harrisburg.

In 1917 the Betsy Ross movie was quite popular.