Tag: Biktrix Kutty

E-Biking the Forbidden Drive

As in, you are forbidden to drive a car on it, but you can bike, walk, or ride a horse on it. The former Wissahickon Turnpike, the main drag through Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, was built in the 1820s and got its current name in the 1920s when it was closed to vehicles.

Wissahickon Creek. Source: TCM

On a pleasantly cool weekend morning there were a lot of people in the park, meaning we had to drive around a bit before finding a parking spot. The gravel path is wide and the people spread out so it was a leisurely 8 mile ride.

Some nice Parkitecture in Wissahickon. Source: TCM
Philly’s first public drinking fountain, built 1854 and shut down in 1957 due to water pollution. Source: TCM

E-Bike to Hanover Pond at Whitesbog

Radmini at Whitesbog
Cranberry bog
Hanover Pond on Gaunt’s Brook. Source: TCM

My first time biking at Whitesbog, the birthplace of the blueberry, was almost a year ago. Today was hotter and the water in Hanover Pond and the cranberry bogs looked very inviting.

As peaceful as it is, Hanover Pond is part of what has been called a “highly engineered agricultural water supply system” for growing cranberries. Whitesbog was already a large, established cranberry operation when Gaunt’s Brook was dammed in 1896 to create Hanover Pond. Water from the pond is channeled into Whitesbog’s Upper Reservoir, built around the same time.

Bog pond at Whitesbog. Source: TCM
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