NYT: How to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday in the Country It Broke Up With

 … remnants of the American Revolution can be found all over London, including Benjamin Franklin’s living room and an original 1776 print of the Declaration of Independence

writes Claire Moses from 21st century London in a historical tourism piece for the New York Times, with Photographs by Jeremie Souteyraton, on "the topic of the American Revolution — or, as it is often called on the other side of the ocean, the U.S. War of Independence": How to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday in the Country It Broke Up With. (Stateside, Anna Diamond provides A Summer Travel Checklist for America’s 250th Birthday.)

Here’s how you can follow the footsteps of some of America’s notable founders and celebrate the country’s 250th birthday this summer in London. …

Step into Benjamin Franklin’s home.

It was in London that Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most famous founders, turned into a revolutionary. From 1757 to 1775, he lived in a terraced Georgian house at 36 Craven Street, near Trafalgar Square.

He came to London as an unofficial diplomat to resolve a tax issue between the provincial government and the Penn family, who governed Pennsylvania, but soon turned into a popular figure around town.

“He really valued being at the heart of the British Empire,” said Megan King, a historian at Benjamin Franklin House, now a museum. “Franklin came as a royalist and left a revolutionary.”

 … If you find yourself in London around the Fourth of July, there are multiple ways to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. You can listen to a Great American Songbook concert in a church in southeast London, learn about the science of fireworks by an American chemist or hear historians at the British Library discuss how the world made the American Revolution. And for an even bigger party: London’s annual Pride Parade in Central London falls on July 4 this year. 

Understand a divided city.

The war was a divisive issue in 18th-century London, according to Jerry White, a British historian. Merchants wanted to “avoid the war at all cost,” he said.

“It was a very disruptive moment for London’s trade,” he added. “And London was a commercial city.”

 … Among other notable opponents of the war was William Pitt, the Elder, a statesman who served as prime minister. He was so staunchly against the war that he proposed an act in the House of Lords in 1775 that was supposed to reconcile Britain and the colonies. He was convinced that a British military victory in America was impossible. (Fun fact: Pittsburgh is named after him.) 

The parlor in the house near Trafalgar Square where Benjamin Franklin lived 
from 1757 to 1775. He was better known as a scientist than as a diplomat in London.