PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The scaffolding around Independence Hall has started to come down, but won’t be a memory for several months.

The $4.4-million tower rehabilitation project on Independence Hall is three months behind schedule according to Jane Cowley, spokeswoman for Independence National Historical Park.

“There was some delay due to snow over the winter. We also discovered something when we took out the spindle that was in there, it was in a different configuration than we had expected. It was in pieces rather than in one whole, so there were delays due to unexpected findings.”

(Credit: Lynne Adkins)

For the workers, it’s  been a glimpse of history, “The staff and contractors, while working, removed some of the wood paneling around the clock face level and what they saw was the exposed internal structure of the tower that no one has seen since 1828 when that building was first constructed.”

Now the entire project, which started in July of 2010, is to be finished in December. But Cowley says scaffolding and the decorative building covering have already been taken down from the very top of the Hall, because the work on the gold ball and weather vane is complete (pictured, right).

Reported by Lynne Adkins KYW Newsradio 1060