Rebecca and Joey have struck upon a creative, comprehensive, and essential form of tourism in their Beyond the Bell tour, using their platform as guides to educate visitors not only on the true story and significance behind the Liberty Bell, but on the phenomenon of tourism itself. Rebecca was direct and clear in her descriptions of the Bell’s history, and highlighted its symbolic impact on civil rights movements throughout American history. She made sure to point out the numerous shortcomings of the designed tourist experience at the site, specifically of the monument to enslaved people, which, while incredibly groundbreaking, failed to capture the attention of tourists.
The tour’s strongest aspect was its encouragement of the group to observe for ourselves and to interact with the tourist site and the fellow tourists coming to witness the Liberty Bell. We began the tour by taking time to note how others were engaging with the site: Where did people gather? Were they taking pictures or reading plaques? And we asked those waiting to get an up close glimpse of the Bell what they were hoping to get out of their visit and why they came to see the site. This anthropological field work added an incredibly fascinating and unique layer to the Beyond the Bell experience.
I highly recommend the Beyond the Bell tour to those who want to dive deeper and get more than just a taste of Philadelphia’s history!