Philly History and Libations at the Athenaeum and Man Full of Trouble Tavern

According to its website, "The Athenaeum was established in 1814 as a subscription library, at a time when the free public library system did not exist and collections of books, available for reading or research, were still mostly limited to institutions, schools or colleges." It also contains exhibits, which are often focused on the city's history and architecture. The two that will be up on the 26th are "Building America, Becoming American: Philadelphia's Early Immigrant Designers" and "Lost Creeks of Philadelphia: Burying the Streams, Building the City."

After seeing the above, we'll head over to the Man Full of Trouble Tavern at 127 Spruce Street. Opening in 1759, it's the only standing pre-Revolutionary War building of its kind in Philadelphia. (Owner Dan Wheeler will give us an introduction to it.) Its painstaking, award-winning renovation includes an upstairs history museum and a downstairs bar with locally sourced drinks from Succession Fermentory.

Those of us who are hungry and don't have to rush off after our tavern visit can choose from a number of restaurants in the area...