Fun Find Friday
May 22, 2015
Location: Liberty Square, Magic Kingdom
The Liberty Tree Tavern is home to one of the most
delicious meals on Disney property. Included in the meal are slices
of turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, but most
importantly, it is served with a side of Fun Finds!
Within the restaurant there are six different rooms
each themed around a different historical figure that made America
the great nation that it is today. While each room is scattered with
details to help characterise each person, there is a hidden detail
within each room that most guests overlook.
When the restaurant was first built, the Imagineers
shared a secret with the cast members who began working there
opening day. Each of the six rooms features one item that was owned
or created by the historical figure that the room represented. Today
we are going to be taking a look at this bookcase in the Benjamin
Franklin room:

While at first glance the book case doesn't seem to
be anything exceptionally special, one item on the shelves is
extremely unique. When Benjamin Franklin was only 15 years old, he
began to work for his brother's newspaper, The New England
Courant. To help fill the various pages of the paper,
Benjamin's brother, James, had some of his friends write articles to
be included in the paper. Ben, who wanted to contribute as well,
didn't think his brother would allow him to write due to the fact
that he was an apprentice so he came up with an idea. He began to
write letters to the newspaper under the pseudonym Silence
Dogood.
Silence Dogood's contributions to the paper became a
hot topic, but 16 letters latter Ben confessed he was the author
which caused a rift between Ben and his brother. Benjamin fled to
Pennsylvania where he continued to thrive in writing for various
papers that he eventually decided to write an almanac. In 1732,
Benjamin Franklin began to write under another pseudonym, Richard
Saunders, for his own annual almanac known as Poor Richard's
Almanack. The almanac would go on to be a annual best seller and
resulted in Benjamin Franklin entering a much bigger role in the
foundation of America.
I know what you're thinking: why the long history
lesson? About halfway up the bookshelf is an open book. The book?
None other than a first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack!

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