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…
A Bit More on Trenton’s Hog Island Cranes
Here’s a few more details on the cranes at the Marine Terminal Park. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the cranes were originally 15 ton oil…
Glencairn’s Cozy Living Room
Glencairn was built by Raymond Pitcairn, “self-taught cathedral architect” (as his New York Times obituary described him) and heir to the massive empire created by his father, John, the founder…
Deferred Maintenance at Independence National Park
David Murrell on everything that’s not being done for the Philadelphia birthplace of the United States: Independence National Park Is an Embarrassing Mess. Why Doesn’t Anyone Care?
The Esherick House
A few years after completing the Trenton Bath House, Louis Kahn designed the one-bedroom Esherick house for a bookstore owner who wanted plenty of reading nooks. The current owners conducted…
Philly Archaeologists’ Map Hopes to Warn Developers Away From Unmarked Cemeteries
Nonexistent or weakly enforced laws in Philadelphia have led to historic graves being destroyed by construction. Hastily organized rescue excavations have salvaged some of these human remains, but others have…
Indian Motorcycles at the American Swedish Museum
Why does the American Swedish Historical Museum have an exhibit on Indian motorcycles? Because one of the founders of the Indian Motorcycle Company, Carl Oscar Hedstrom, was an immigrant from…
The Wagner Borrows a Passenger Pigeon
The Wagner Free Institute of Science in Philadelphia has many interesting things in its natural history collection, most still exhibited in their Victorian era display cabinets. But one thing they…