Liberty Square Secrets always intrigue me. The Imagineers had a lot of fun in this area tucking in secrets for us to discover. I asked a Cast Member in Liberty Square if he knew any secrets he could share.
The first one I knew… the other 2 I didn’t.
If you look up in the window above, you’ll see 2 lanterns. If you remember, the colonists were warned “one if by land, two if by sea” to indicate the direction of the British invasion. At night, two lanterns are lit up. Crazy attention to detail, right?
In this window you will see a musket. This musket could have two different meanings depending on which Cast Member you speak with. It could represent “the shot heard around the world”, the very first shot was fired that began the American Revolution.
The musket could also indicate that the man of the house was home from the Revolutionary war. Men placed their musket in their window to indicate they were home and ready to answer the call to arms, thus they were referred to as Minutemen.
You can find the musket in the window above the exit to the Hall of Presidents.
Another Liberty Square Secrets is located above these green doors. It is a Fire Mark, a plaque with 4 hands gripping one another’s wrists. It is believed that when the fire department first began, they would only put out fires in houses that were insured. These Fire Marks were used to indicate to the fire departments that this location had paid their insurance.
This specific Fire Mark represents the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss of Fire which was founded in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin.
The double green doors might be the fire department. I could picture one of the first water wagons located behind those double doors ready to be pulled to the fire.
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