Philadelphia’s “Welcome Park” sits on the location of William Penn’s home in that city – known as the Slate Roof House. The park is literally named for the vessel that brought the colonial Quaker to the site of what became Philadelphia, the good ship Welcome.
Penn, as hopefully most people know, would go on to found the province – and later state – of Pennsylvania after receiving territory in settlement for a debt King Charles II owed Penn’s late father. In 1681 the king gave Penn that chunk west of New Jersey, with Charles being the person who actually coined the name “Pennsylvania” for Penn’s new land grant. This was in addition to property already purchased in 1677 (basically half of what was then all New Jersey) by Penn and a group of other Quakers, and was already being settled.
Charles II was also delighted to have a place where all these…
