#philadelphiaparks

We’re looking at the Wissahickon on this #FlashbackFriday! 

Acquired by the Fairmount Park Commission in 1868 in order to preserve the purity of the City’s water supply, Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley Park has inspired countless artists, poets, and visitors with its natural beauty.

In 1894, artist Augustus Kollner compiled an album of his prints and drawings, Bits of Nature and Some Art Products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna, which includes this circa 1878 lithograph of the Wissahickon looking much the same as it does today.

See Kollner’s digitized Bits of Nature album here.

The Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation has released a presentation showing its plans for the makeover of Eakins Oval at the northwest end of the Ben Franklin Parkway.  It will occupy the space in the center of the oval that had been the Parkway’s original center lanes and has more recently served as a parking lot. The Oval is a new initiative of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation in partnership with the Fairmount Park Conservancy. It is made possible thanks to the support of the William Penn Foundation and City of Philadelphia.

The Oval revamp has three major elements: an urban beach, a game area and an outdoor food truck cafe with a portable stage at its end. The beach will also include sandboxes for children. The game area features life-size chess and checkers boards, complete with pieces, a large Twister mat and facilities for bag toss and table tennis games, among other amenities. The stage at the end of the cafe will allow the area to be used for outdoor concerts and performances. A small fragment of the original pavement will remain behind the stage, presumably to serve as a staging area for events; portable toilets will be provided in this space.

The Oval makeover, which has the virtue of being doable quickly and cheaply, is the first major element of the long-range plan to make the Parkway more inviting for pedestrians and neighbors the city calls “More Park, Less Way.”

 The Oval will be open from July 17th-August 17th, Tuesday through Sunday, from 9am-9pm.