Old City
Blacksmith wrongly jailed for the vault he built, later vindicated by a Philadelphia jury.
This guide to Old City in Philadelphia opens on a lock so precise that its own maker became the chief suspect. In 1798 Scottish blacksmith Patrick Lyon fitted new iron doors onto the vault of the Bank of Pennsylvania inside Carpenters' Hall, and weeks later, on the night between August 31 and September 1, the vault was opened and a hundred sixty-two thousand dollars vanished. It follows Lyon fleeing a yellow fever outbreak, returning to clear his name, and instead landing in Walnut Street Prison, where guards allowed him only a Bible and a book of poetry as he wrote his own epitaph. Stand near Carpenters' Hall while you listen.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.