Vox Hunt: Landmark Love

Show us your favorite landmark in your current hometown.

I wouldn't choose what I am going to choose were it not for this:

I grew up in Marin County, California.  The photo above is of Muir Woods, a redwood forest in a canyon on the road to Stinson Beach.  I went there many times as a kid, for hikes, school trips and so on.  Very pretty, awesome in its stillness and majesty.  But I never thought twice about it.  It was just Muir Woods.  That is until the day I went there with my girlfriend Mary.

Mary was from Shrewsbury, MA, not too far from Boston.  One year while we were together, my parents invited her out to California with me for a holiday.  (Her family hosted me a number of times for Christmas).  Mary had never been to California, so I borrowed the car for some sightseeing.  Naturally, when visitors came to Marin, one would take them to various places, like Sausalito, Stinson Beach, and of course a quick stop at Muir Woods.  We had already gone to Stinson, had stopped at the Pelican Inn for lunch, and I figured a quick stroll in Muir Woods was in order.

So, we parked, walked to the entrance, and started walking through the grove closest to to entrance, down the path you see in the photo above.  I was chatting along, when I noticed that Mary was not replying, which was unusual.  I glanced over; there were tears streaming silently down her face.  I asked What's wrong Mary?  She looked at me, and replied I've dreamed of seeing this my whole life.  It was only at that point that I truly understood how special Muir Woods was.

So, in that vein, instead of choosing a landmark which I personally find special for me, allow me to show you the landmark that people dream of seeing their whole life:

Independence Hall

This is a photo of Independence Hall, here in Philadelphia.  On the left side of the doorway is the room in which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were hammered out.  On the right side of the doorway is the room which was home to the United States Supreme Court from 1791 to 1800.

Philadelphians have the same kind of relationship with Independence Hall as I used to have with Muir Woods.  It's a big deal, but most haven't been there since a school trip as kids, or only go there with visitors from out of town.  I have seen the same type of reaction from visitors that I saw from Mary at Muir Woods.  Awestruck reverence.  There is a park square behind the Hall, where I sometimes go to sit with my boy.  Based on the number of Chinese tourists I see taking photos of each other outside the Hall, I believe that it is only a matter of time before that country shifts its style of governing.  (I suspect some will consider me naive for that view.)

I took my son in his stroller the first day it was open after September 11th.  The crowd was hushed as the ranger told the story of the history of the hall.  I got a bit annoyed as he paused pointedly whenever my son, in his two-year-old (shortly to be diagnosed autistic) exhuberance would cry out.  And as they restricted access and armed rangers, I got more annoyed.  As with most other things, the US government as it has been constituted in recent years cares more about ephemeral security than it does about actual independence.  In the words of Philadelphia's founding father:  Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.

  It was in this building that modern liberty was born.  Stunted, distorted, not yet fully formed.  Not even yet.  But within these walls resides the historical promise of liberty for all.  Of the people, by the people, for the people.