Are the comfort stations in Wissahickon Park open for use? It can be found by entering the main footpath at the Ridge Avenue entrance and following the west bank to Hermit's Lane Bridge. Wissahickon Park Orange Trail to White Trail is a 3.6 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that features a great forest setting and is rated as moderate. The same steep slopes and gorge that provided an attractive isolation to religious adherents in the 17th and early 18th centuries provided an efficient source of energy for the development of water mills in later years. Ambassador to Britain, donated his land to the Park prior to his death in 1886. ", http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa0600/pa0679/photos/140601pv.jpg, "The Whitefish Press: ron P. swegman: Small Fry", http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/americanscenery/grose_spring.htm, http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/americanscenery/grose_autumn.htm, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=48510, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=26835, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=50876, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=31598, http://www.artnet.com/artwork_images/78998/83475.jpg, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=42172, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=35983, http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/schwarz/64-01.jpg, http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/schwarz/64-18.jpg, http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/schwarz/37-19.jpg, http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/schwarz/14-30.jpg, http://www.philaprintshop.com/images/cur5423.jpg, "Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820-1860", "Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music", U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations, A virtual geologic tour of Wissahickon Creek. Gradually this road and other mill access roads were connected, and in 1856 a private toll road, the Wissahickon Turnpike, linked the entire valley. Though at first fairly tame, in its last 7 miles (11 km), the Wissahickon stream drops over 100 feet (30 m) in altitude. William Thompson Russell Smith (1812–1896), William Thompson Russell Smith (1812–1896), Wissahickon, 1857. Much of the creek now runs through or next to parkland, with the last few miles running through a deep gorge. Kelpius described the type of meditation he used in his Method of Prayer. As the hills formed the outsides of the sea, some of the trees showed only their tops; and, every now and then, a lofty tree growing in the sea itself, raised its head above the apparent waters. We will be open Wednesday through Sunday this Summer. Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania in the United States. Bird's eye view lithograph, old photos, building plans, Edison letter, etc. Years afterward in 1883, the Toleration statue was erected, a marble statue of a man in simple Quaker clothing. One of his books, The Rose of Wissahikon; or, The Fourth of July, 1776. There are two main and many smaller bridle paths crossing the park's 1,372 acres (5.55 km2) along the Wissahickon Creek. A paved path on the west bank connects the junction of Forbidden Drive and Lincoln Drive south to Ridge Avenue at the confluence of the Wissahickon and Schuylkill River. Actress Fanny Kemble, grandmother to novelist Owen Wister, visited the stream in 1832; her writing awakened a more general interest in the stream and its valley. Philadelphians finally came to value their Wissahickon valley for its wild character. In 1924, area residents formed the non-profit group "Friends of the Wissahickon", which still works to maintain the park's unique landscape to this day. By Wissahickon, maddest of good men, Access roads were being constructed into the steep valley, but there was still no road that followed the stream itself. There exists a song called "The Gentle Wissahickon: A Ballad" published in 1857 by Edmund L Walker, 142 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Several decades later the Schuylkill River itself became seriously polluted by sources in the coal fields far upstream beyond Philadelphia's control, but the waters of the Wissahickon had been restored and the beauty of the Wissahickon Valley had been preserved. Her description of the gorge's dramatic end at the stream's confluence with the Schuylkill River and her verse To the Wissahickon both sparked a keen interest in this natural treasure often overlooked by its neighbors. These sedimentary deposits were over time compressed into shale and sandstone. The immediate shores, however, are of granite, sharply defined or moss-covered, against which the pellucid water lolls in its gentle flow, as the blue waves of the Mediterranean upon the steps of her palaces of marble. Here William Rittenhouse (grandfather of the astronomer David Rittenhouse) had in the early 18th century built the first paper mill in America. Summer, 1986. One of the most romantic hikes in this park leads to a precipice overlooking the gorge. The reason the Wissahickon Valley retained its wilderness character, even after its clean waters were no longer essential to the water supply of the city of Philadelphia, was the advent of Romanticism and the changing attitudes which this thought engendered about nature. Many of these upper trails have been marked with colored blazes. Its dramatic geography and dense forest attract thousands of walkers, riders, and bikers. Press J to jump to the feed. The sole surviving commercial establishment from the pre-park days is the Valley Green Inn,[13] but that establishment is now an integral part of the park and creek valley. ... the new station will merely be a fancier version of the open-air shelter than now exists. There were more than fifty watermills by 1850, though the thickly forested region about the stream still retained the character of a wilderness. Postcard collection with several Wissahickon views, Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 sketch "Morning on the Wissahiccon", At the Red Bridge Crossing the Wissahickon Creek by D.J. Just above Valley Green, Wise's Mill Road meets Forbidden Drive, connecting it to Henry Avenue in Roxborough. It received its familiar name in the 1920s when automobiles were first banned from the road. There are the set by the Valley Green Inn, a Porta-Potty on the north bank at Valley Green. Conwill, Joseph D. "The Wissahickon Valley: To A Wilderness Returned." (See Further Reading below on this book.) Industry sprang up along the Wissahickon not long after European settlement, with America's first paper mill set up on one of the Wissahickon's tributaries. By 1730, however, eight mills had been constructed, and by 1793, twenty-four, along with many dams. Unfortunately, Devil's pool often falls victim to litter and vandalism. Other trails in the area are more restricted, with some prohibiting cyclists or equestrians, and the others requiring a permit for bicyclists and equestrians. All trails in the Andorra Natural Area are prohibited to all bicycles. Most of America was still wilderness, but the Wissahickon Valley was a developing industrial center. Wissahickon Creek rises in Montgomery County, runs approximately 23 miles (37 km) passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia. Remarks on the Wissahickon in literature by such as Fanny Kemble, Edgar Allan Poe, George Lippard, and others are noted below. (The statue is popularly but erroneously known as "Teedyuscung," the name of an 18th-century Delaware chief.) Kelpius died in 1708 and the group disbanded some time thereafter. Although it is not legal due to unsafe levels of pollutants, Devil's pool has become a popular area to swim, lounge, and drink. Some miles away is the path leading to the Indian statue, a dramatic 15 ft (4.5 m) high white marble sculpture of a kneeling Lenape warrior which was sculpted in 1902 by John Massey Rhind. The bridge is but 480 feet (146 m) long, with a width of 60 feet (18 m), but its center arch spans an impressive 225 feet (69 m), the crown of the arch is 109 feet (33 m) above the water, and the sidewalks of the bridge 120 feet (37 m) above the Wissahickon. Most of the park is heavily wooded, save for two large open meadows seeded with native wildflowers and grasses. The words are by Col. James G Wallace, the music by Herman Trevor, and it recalls a "happy childhood time", "the picnic grove", and at the end "dear Alice Ray" who became the singer's "blushing bride.". The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, running, and nature trips. Edgar Allan Poe alluded to Fanny Kemble's writing in his description of a beautiful Wissahickon valley in his 1844 essay "Morning on the Wissahiccon", in which he wrote: Now the Wissahiccon is of so remarkable a loveliness that, were it flowing in England, it would be the theme of every bard, and the common topic of every tongue, if, indeed, its banks were not parcelled off in lots, at an exorbitant price, as building-sites for the villas of the opulent. Forbidden Drive is also accessible at its midpoint at the Valley Green Inn. Snake-like in shape, the Helmstadt mystic hid, The sole surviving commercial establishment from the pre-park days is the Valley Green Inn, [13] but that establishment is now an integral part of the park and creek valley. Depending on one of Lippard's mostly contrived stories, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote about Johannes Kelpius and his followers on the Wissahickon in his 1872 poem Pennsylvania Pilgrim: Or painful Kelpius from his hermit den There are the set by the Valley Green Inn, a Porta-Potty on the north bank at Valley Green. Today the Wissahickon is a quiet stream flowing through a beautiful gorge and park. On the earliest map of this region of Pennsylvania, by Thomas Holme, the stream is called Whitpaine's creek, after one of the original settlers Richard Whitpaine, who owned several large tracts on the creek.