WHISPERING BENCH

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY

The way this amusing Fairmount Park acoustical oddity works is simple – you sit at one end of the 50-foot curved stone bench and whisper something, and a person sitting all the way at the other end can clearly hear every word you say, just as if the two of you were sitting right next to each other!

The Whispering Bench (actually there are two twin Whispering Benches, one right across from the other) can be found at the foot of the Smith Memorial Arch, just steps away from the Please Touch Museum.

Richard Smith, the prosperous 19th century industrialist who built the Memorial Arch and the Whispering Bench, must have been a fun-loving fellow.  The Smith Memorial features more than a dozen statues of Civil War heroes, plus a statue of Smith himself (even though he never fought in any war).  On the opposite side of the Schuylkill River, you'll find the Smith Playground, which has delighted many generations of young Philadelphians with its one-of-a-kind playground rides and giant indoor wooden slide.