I live ~20-30 minutes from Philly on the Jersey side. Philly is beautiful (Until you leave the city...)
If you like history and science there's a ton of stuff there for you. Franklin Institute, Constitution Center, etc.
Wildlife there's the Philadelphia Zoo, and if you ferry across the deleware there's Adventure Aquarium in Camden.
There's also Chinatown in Philly and Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey.
As long as you are willing to ferry over the Deleware there's literally tons of stuff to do.
I don't know how long you'll be there but I figured I'd give suggestions anyway :o
Edit: Oh this is more on the Jersey side, but a bit of a travel:
Wheaton Village
Batsto Village
Pine Barrens (Home of the Jersey Devil!)
They're all historical locations, I've been to Batsto and the Pine Barrens where its located.
If you're only going for abfew hours this is all useless, but maybe someone else can use it.