Singing Fountain

I'm perambulating in South Philadelphia & came across this fountain square. It's called the Singing Fountain but it is not singing now. I figured this would be a good place to attempt my first mobile post.

----- Non-mobile update -----

OK Clearly I still have to get the hang of mobile posts. Here is a better picture taken with my digital camera.

Schuylkill River Cruise

I managed to fit two outings in to one Saturday. Riding home from the Mural Arts ride, I stopped at in information table under the Walnut Street Bridge to inquire if any open seats were available for the afternoon cruise down the Schuylkill River. The manager said he could fit one more on so I rode home, cleaned myself up, and returned to the dock for the 2:00 PM departure.

The Schuylkill River Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that seeks to enhance the river and its banks from Fairmount Park south, organizes these river cruises throughout the summer. The tour started heading upriver as far as the Fairmount Waterworks, an engineering marvel built in the early 1800s to supply the city with clean drinking water. A dam built as part of the waterworks forced us to turn around and head south toward the Delaware River. Passing under the South Street Bridge (current under re-construction), we entered a part of the river I had not seen before. We continued as far south as Bartram's Garden, which I visited by bike earlier this year, before returning to the boat dock.

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The Director of the non-profit narrated the tour. He highlighted a lot of the improvements his group has accomplished, active projects and items on their wish list. As a beneficiary of these efforts, I appreciated the chance to hear about them.

Fairmount Water Works

Skyline from Dupont Crescent

CSX Train
Philadelphia Gas Works in the Background

River Cruise Boat (left)
SRDC Improvements (center)
Art Installation (right)

Mural Arts Bike Ride

Philadelphia has a strong program that coordinates the installation of top-quality murals on blank walls throughout the city. Started in the 80s as an offshoot of anti-graffiti efforts, the Mural Arts Program grew in to a well-recognized community asset. Today, there are over 3,000 murals installed as of result of the program's efforts. They offer tours (walking, bike, and trolley) to the public. When I learned of the bike tour, I knew I had to give it a try. Yesterday, I joined four bicyclist and two guides on a five-mile tour that passed about two-dozen murals (I've linked to pictures of 15 in the map) in or near the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. Stopping a many of them, the guide offered background on the artist, the content and other facts about the murals. In addition to this background information, I found it helpful just to have the murals pointed out to me lest I ride right by unaware. Many times as he started to slowdown at the approach to a mural, I found my head swiveling around to locate it. I appended the official tour with a loop through Fairmount Park to bring the total miles for the ride to eighteen.

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Germantown Historic Sites

The Germantown Historical Society coordinates a annual pass program that grants admission to a dozen plus historical sites in and around the the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Most of the sites are open on Saturday afternoon. I figured this program could form the basis for a bike ride. Last Saturday, I set out to visit a few of the site and take pictures of the ones I didn't have time to stop and tour. I ended up touring three historic homes and taking pictures of six more.

My first stop was the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion at Tulpehocken and Greene, a rare example of Victorian architecture and the only such home open for tours in Philadelphia. After buying my passport, I received a personal tour from a volunteer who knew the house's history very well. Next I rode to Cliveden, the estate of Benjamin Chew, a prominent lawyer in colonial Philadelphia. The battle of Germantown, an American loss that preceeded the winter in Valley Forge, was largely fought on the grounds. The red coats used the house as a fort to much success. The facade still bears cannonball pock marks from the battle.

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From Cliveden, I road south along Germantown Avenue. While it's among the least bike friendly roads in Philadelphia, most of the historic sites have address on this route, once a major thoroughfare to and from downtown Philadelphia. I rode passed the Johnson House, part of the underground railroad; Concord School, built in 1775 ; the Germantown Historical Society headquarters; Dreshler-Morris House, where Washington summered during his presidency; and Grumblethorpe. I also passed, but failed to notice ACES Museum and Wyck. Finally, I arrived at my last stop for the day, Stenton, the estate of James Logan, a contemporary of Benjamin Chew, who is best know of the secretary for William Penn.

Statistics
Length: 19.3
Ride Time: 1 hour 49 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours 28 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.6 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 55 RPM

Bartrams Garden

I used my bike for a different purpose than normal today, that is, as a mode of transportation rather than method for recreation. Seeing the cherry trees in blossom on my Easter ride reminded me that there's a Japanese Tea House and Garden in Fairmount Park that I'd never visited. No Rail State nearby; too far to walk; and too expensive a cab ride, bike was the best means to get to the Tea House. Unfortunately, they weren't giving public tours, only private ones with reservations today. I wish that obstacle had been clear on their webpage. So I took a few pictures from outside the fence and walked around the horticultural center than abuts the Tea House.

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Since I didn't take the tour, I also had time to ride south to Bartram's Garden, once home to America's preeminent botanist, John Bartram. I arrive at 2:45 PM, a little too late for the garden tour, and signed up for the 3:30 PM house tour. In the meantime I walked around the botanical gardens. The back (really the front) of the property leads down to the Schuykill River, which is lined with industrial complexes. The garden's historical significance saved it from a similar fate. I was the only attendee on the house tour, which lasted about forty-five minutes. A quick twenty-minute ride by to my apartment left me enough time to shower and make it to 5:15 PM mass.

Japanese Tea House

John Bartram's House (finished 1770)

Bartram's Garden. Leading down to the Schuylkill River.

Eastern State Penitentiary

I took advantage of the day off (President's Day) to visit Eastern State Penitentiary, a historic prison located about 1.5 miles northwest of my apartment building. Housing its first inmate in 1829, Eastern State pioneered the concept of attempting to reform inmates rather than just separate them from society. Its roots encased in Quaker philosophies, the "separate" or Pennsylvania system put each inmate in extreme, frankly cruel, isolation to foster repentance. The tour guide explained the practice didn't live up to the ideals of the founders and the officials abandoned it in the early 1900s. Tough the prison continued to operate under a the congregant philosophy (what we recognize today) until 1971.

I learned a lot on the tour, much more than expected. All around it was a great way for me to spend the morning.

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The prison was originally built on a hill beyond the edge of Philadelphia. As the town grew, it surrounded the prison. The guardhouse, the only way in or out, fronts on Fairmount Avenue. There's an elementary school off the northwest corner (not visible) of the building.

The hallway for Cell Block #1, the first constructed. They reconstructed this section to represent the original design. Prisoners took their food through the windows and entered the cell from a door the outside wall.

At the time when the White House still had to use chamber pots, the designers installed indoor plumbing in the prison. Not to be nice, but to facilitate the solitude required by the "separate" system.

Eevnutually expanded to 15 cell blocks, the prison has been out of use for nearly four decades, years that have not been kind to the old buildings. The non-profit operating the penitentiary today is raising money for a new roof, but in the main wants to keep the structures in their current appearance, while preventing decay and opening more sections to the public.

Al Capone and Willie Sutton are the two most famous inmates in the facilities history. Al Capone served eight months on a concealed weapons charge. Willie Sutton was involved in an elaborate tunnel escape that, but for 3 hours on the streets, was unsuccessful.

Snowy Day II:Invasion of the Snowmen

Normally a perambulation across the street, around the park, and back inside, all in less than twenty minutes wouldn't justify a blog post, but the fiercest blizzard in generations extenuate such an inclusion. Today, during the third major winter storm of the season, Philadelphia surpassed its all-time record for snow accumulation (65.5 inches) for Winter.

Transportation so precarious, our office, along with many in the city, closed for the day. With a slippery, four-block walk, I joined about a half-dozen other stalwarts at the office anyway. Despite contrary reports, I believe this is the first time in my six winters with PREIT, they closed the office. Already, they decided to cancel the workday tomorrow as well, certainly a first time occurrence. After I left for the day, I walked around Rittenhouse Square until I was too cold and wet to bear any more.

One benefit to receiving a lot of snow, is a surplus of material to construct snowmen. While I was working in my office, other Philadelpihans were busy crafting snowmen in the park. Here are a few pictures.

Artists Practicing their craft.

This guy was about 8 feet tall.

This head reminds me of something my brother Jon would do.
I was told rubbing his nose guarantees a male child.

This kid picked the wrong time to get a time-out.

And in a nod to diversity, a snowwomen. (All the others I saw were white males)

And a few more pictures of the park at its snowiest.

A good overview.

Looking East outside the park down Locust Street.

If today is a great day for football, it proves any day is a good day for football.

Snowy Day

We got a little bit of snow in Philadelphia today. My paper didn't come. Restaurants stayed closed. The gym shut down early. All interrupting my normal Saturday routine and giving me a chance to hole up inside for the day. Just to make sure I would appreciate the value of being huddled up in a what being huddled in warm apartment, I did venture out briefly around Noon to survey the blizzard's effect on the city. Here are a few pictures from my walk.

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Perambulating in Philly

I had an errand to run on the other side of town today, dropping off my cable box at the Comcast office. As I had an armful to carry, I took a cab there, but returned on foot through the Pensport and Bella Vista neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. It may have been a little frosty (hovering around 30 degrees) to walk through 3.5 miles, but I made back little worse for wear. Along the way back, I dipped south to Dickinson, found the intersection of Passayunk & Ninth—home of Geno's and Pat's, two well-known Cheesestake outfits—and rode a swing in Capitolo Playground.

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Dickinson Square



















South Philly Mural



















Italian Market
























South Broad Street from Bainbridge Intersection

Philadelphia City Hall

Earlier in December, I took a day off to do a little exploring in town. I've lived in Philadelphia for six years and hadn't yet toured city hall. It's located a prominent square in the center of two just two blocks north of where I work, and just a few more blocks away from my apartment building. Tours run two hours and are only available on weekdays so there is no convenient time outside of work to visit.

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Our tour group consisted of three people: the guide, a gentleman from Boston, and myself. We started with about 40 minutes on the outside of the building. The guide pointed out a few sculptures and reliefs, I'd walked by numerous times but never appreciated. He showed the special door where the paddy wagon would deposit prisoners for their court date in courtrooms up above. A bystander appeared interested as we stood over a tiled abstractions of William Penn's plan for the city, but an alternate agenda, angrily chastising the guide for not mentioning that William Penn owned slaves.

The building has over 700+ rooms. We visited a few of the major ones including the Mayor's Meeting Room, now used for Press Conferences; the council caucus room, where they conducted business when they didn't want the pesky citizens listening in; and Main Council Chamber. We also went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chamber. Reportedly, Pennsylvania has the only remaining traveling Supreme Court in the nation. The rotate between Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. This is where they meet when they're in town. The tour ended with a trip to the top of the 550' tower, a ride I've taken a few times before, but not in a few years, for great views over the city.

Council Chamber

Ben Franklin Parkway from City Hall Tower

South Broad Street. I work in the third tall building on the right.

Northern Liberties (A neighborhood in Philadelphia) and Beyond.