Edward Pachell / For the Star
A trail tour held last week allowed people to see what possibilities the Schuylkill River holds for recreational use.
Taking in the scenery
For Gretchen Sweeney, the realization that Manayunk is within the city limits of Philadelphia came as somewhat of a surprise.
After all, to those unfamiliar with the area, it’s not that uncommon to make the mistake that the neighborhood with a European feel is actually part of the sixth-largest city in the country.
But Sweeney, 28, a first-year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, was not the only one who didn’t know of Manayunk’s status.
Take Luke Mitchell, also 28, and also a first-year planning student at Penn. Mitchell, originally from Maine, is like Sweeney in that he aims to learn more about regional-planning ventures going on in the Greater Philadelphia area. There was perhaps no better opportunity for the two than last week’s tour of the potential recreational and open-space ventures being addressed in the region.
“We’re all very interested in getting into the regional-planning culture,” Mitchell said, as he and other Penn graduate students studying urban planning gathered at the Manayunk Brewery on Aug. 22 to prepare for that night’s walking tour led by Chris Leswing, a planner from neighboring Lower Merion Township.
Leswing and other Montgomery County officials have been working with their Philadelphia counterparts to address potential shared recreational and open-space opportunities along the Schuylkill River.
Last week, Leswing led a team of graduate students, planners, designers and trail enthusiasts on a trek across the river, from one county to the other and then back again, to offer a firsthand look at the work being done to address this shared space.
“I think it’s great,” Faith Cole, a second-year planning student at Penn, said of the collaboration between the two counties.
“It just makes sense in terms of planning,” Cole’s boyfriend, Travis Hall, 28, added.
Cole, 25, who lives in Center City, said she was unfamiliar with Manayunk’s offerings, not having grown up here. But now that she has gotten a taste of what this Philly enclave, and the adjacent Lower Merion Township, have to offer, there may be no turning back.
“This is a beautiful community,” she said.
As the group prepared to embark on the walking tour, Cole reflected on the importance of taking an active role in one’s community, especially one that offers as much in the way of recreation and natural amenities as this area does. It’s especially crucial for younger people to take part in what’s going on, she said. After all, the changes will mostly affect future generations.
“It’s pretty vital,” she said. “Projects (like this) are for them.”
Cole said she decided to go back to school to study planning because “the time was right.” She added that the idea of environmentalism is becoming more mainstream these days, something proven by the number of young people in attendance at last week’s gathering. In addition to students and those simply interested in what’s being done along the Schuylkill, the event was attended by Kay Sykora, a veteran member of the Manayunk Development Corp. Sykora has worked closely with Lower Merion’s Leswing and others on what is known as the Schuylkill Project, which is aimed at building up the riverfront.
Mitchell, the first-year planning student who grew up in Maine, said that before enrolling at Penn he worked in urban planning in New York. While he said half-jokingly that he learned a lot about city government while working in the Big Apple, he was really “looking for the small-city experience.”
And his choice of study would almost perfectly complement his goal.
“Doing urban planning, when you move to a new city, you’re going to get to know so much about it,” he said. “It’s a great profession to get to know about the area.”
As opposed to working in big New York City, Mitchell’s time in Philadelphia has been marked by opportunities such as this, which offer him a glimpse at what’s possible when two neighboring communities pool their resources for the greater good.
“A project like this would be more engaging for me as a planner,” he said. “Everybody who is connected to it is somehow working on it.”
Sweeney, the other first-year planning student, also likes the idea of working on a collaborative project in an area that offers both the excitement of a metropolitan region and the quaintness of a picturesque suburban community.
Before coming to Philly, Sweeney worked for an environmental finance center in Washington, D.C. Originally hailing from Kansas, Sweeney found that the District of Columbia didn’t really give her the big-city opportunity she was looking for, at least from an environmental perspective.
“D.C.’s dominated by government,” she said, then added, “I think I’m going to like it here.”
As the tour commenced, crossing the river into Montgomery County via an unused bridge that at one time transported barges from the Manayunk Canal to the Pencoyd Iron Works factory in Lower Merion, some tour-goers marveled at the state of the area. At one turn there was an abandoned building, with broken windows and an aging facade, then steps away there was the beautifully restored Pencoyd headquarters, which today houses the Penn Realty Co.
The folks at Penn Realty graciously opened the building to the tour participants, giving them a look around the renovated historic structure, and offering some free food and refreshments.
Inside, Max Buten, a member of the Lower Merion Historical Society, talked briefly about the importance of the Manayunk Canal and its history in the community as an essential thoroughfare during the Industrial Age.
“It was the greatest thing for transportation — for things like coal downhill and wood and other things uphill — that the world has ever seen,” Buten said.
Pencoyd Iron Works, which dates to 1853, was an important name on the industrial map during the 19th century, Buten said. At one time the company served as one of the premier bridge-makers in the country. Many of the beams that support the upgraded building today were made onsite.
Leswing, the Lower Merion Township planner, said one of the nice things about constructing a trail around these parts is that walkers and bikers would be able to traverse history as well as scenic routes. Buten agreed, noting that a trail in the vicinity would be constructed around two well-known burial grounds, referring to historic Laurel Hill and West Laurel Hill cemeteries.
After leaving the Pencoyd building, Ted Goldsborough, another member of the Lower Merion Historical Society, commented on the benefits of living in an area where city and suburb converge.
“The attractions of the city are starting to be appreciated again,” he said. “It’s got advantages.”
As the tour continued toward its completion, from various wooded areas in Montgomery County across bridges back into Philadelphia, Chris Dougherty, who works in the office of planning, preservation, development and facilities management at the Fairmount Park Commission, praised the effort between Philadelphia and Montgomery County to enhance the area’s recreational and open-space opportunities.
“Oftentimes, in the planning circles, one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing,” Dougherty said.
Even on a larger scale, Mayor Michael Nutter has recently announced his desire to work more closely with suburban municipalities, especially in the realm of regional planning. This revelation pleases those such as Dougherty.
“The mayor is looking to reach out to suburban communities,” he said, extolling opportunities for joint planning projects. “It behooves the city to tap into that.” ••
Reporter Jon Campisi can be reached at 215-354-3038 or jcampisi@phillynews.com
