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4 August 08: A photographic interlude
And what a crazy Summer of the Delaware it is. This whole series came to me in the spur of the moment, something to dress up a post similar to this one -- the first day back (16 June 08, Batten down the hatches) from another weekend away from the city when I'd rather
re-acclimate via slumber than banging a keyboard.
I'm glad Philly Skyline has taken on this Summer of the Delaware, though, because it's as much an education tool for us as it is simply another feature on this web site.
Truth be told, by the time the autumn equinox rolls around on Monday September 22nd, I'm not sure we'll have crossed all the bridges, so to speak, that we can. That's how
powerful the Delaware River is . . . and while there are thousands of people from Otto Geiger's farm to Cape Henlopen whose very lives revolve around this River, I still
feel like the majority of us in Philadelphia (myself included) take it for granted.
That said, let's take a breather and have a look at a sampling of Philly Skyline Summer of the Delaware Skylines, taken at various times from various places over the past
two months.
Mind the Gap: We'll start here with the most recent of the bunch. The meandering Delaware down below is the northwesternmost border of New Jersey, a stretch of the
Delaware Water Gap national recreation area with Pennsylvania on the other side. This view is from an overlook on the Appalachian Trail on Kittatinny Mountain in Jersey's
Worthington State Forest.
Four score: Speaking of the Appalachian Trail, the enormous feat of engineering we see here is the AT's footbridge across the Delaware. It's so large because it
also happens to carry the second-longest interstate highway in the country, I-80. The AT crosses a lot of rivers and highways in its 2,175 mile journey from Maine to
Georgia, but few are as intense as this one -- there is only a three foot concrete barrier separating the pedestrian hiker from trucks and travelers going 70+ on a
highway whose own journey from New York to San Francisco is nearly 3,000 miles.
There's that pi again: While the views from the upper floors at the PSFS Building are unmatched for skyline symmetry and birds eye streetscapes, it's also hard to
beat the views of the River from there, being one of the tallest buildings east of Broad Street. (It was the tallest until The St James opened in 2004.) This view
of the Camden skyline welcomes the addition of the completed Ferry Terminal Building which does not, in fact, include a ferry terminal.
Lehigh love: Phillies fans have grown a lot more familiar with the mini-metropolis an hour up the Northeast Extension this summer as the likes of Brett Myers and
JA Happ (and soon, Carlos Carrasco) have made the trek between Citizens Bank Park in South Philly to Coca Cola Park in Allentown. The AAA Iron Pigs call the Lehigh Valley
their home as a matter of honor to the roughly 800,000 residents in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and surrounding region. The 103 mile long Lehigh River, the Delaware's
second longest tributary (after the Schuylkill) flows through all three of these towns and empties into the Delaware via this dam in Easton.
Goose Penn: William Penn's Bucks County estate, Pennsbury Manor, is entirely reconstructed from imagination. There is no record of the original home's design or
landscaping, so when it was rebuilt in the New Deal era, they built things based on history and English styles from Penn's time. One thing that is authentic to history is
the view of the Delaware. These Canada geese stroll the backyard that Penn did 300-some years ago (for barely two years when he was even there).
Substation 1: Penn Treaty Park. William Penn was only ever in the colony bearing his name (but named for his father) twice. The earlier trip is clearly the
more celebrated of the two, the one in which the Quaker allegedly held his treaty of peace with the Lenni Lenapes. While Philadelphia's industrial presence ate up nearly
all of the Delaware Riverfront, the movement to preserve this land once called Shackamaxon dates back to Penn's living days, even as he was back in England for good. The
park's obelisk marking the treaty was donated in 1827, and Penn Treaty Park was officially established in 1893.
Substation 2: city skyline gritty skyline. Finally, this one was taken last Sunday (7/27) as that magnificent hailstorm approached. Couple the dark skies with New
Jersey Transit's tinted windows on the Atlantic City line, and I had to up the ISO to 1600 just to get enough light to use a 1/250th shutter from the train as it moved
across the Delair Bridge. This skyline view across Port Richmond takes in the PECO substation and Tioga Terminal.
* * *
That's what's up in the Summer of the Delaware at the moment. Should be a fun week on yr Skyline, so don't stray too far . . . the 10 Rittenhouse exposé will be up
some time this week, promise.
–B Love
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SUMMER OF THE DELAWARE ARCHIVES:
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