Mom Rinker's Rock

Last updated

Mom Rinker's Rock is a scenic outlook in Wissahickon Valley Park along the Wissahickon Creek in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on a ridge on the eastern side of the park just a little north of the Walnut Lane Bridge, close by the statue dedicated to Toleration.

The name of the outlook is derived from legendary stories about an event that supposedly occurred during or after the American Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown; the stories tell of American spies taking advantage of the rugged terrain of the Wissahickon valley to retrieve information from an informant named Molly Rinker (nicknamed "Mom Rinker"), who allegedly perched atop a rock overlooking the valley to drop balls of yarn which contained messages about British troop movements during the occupation of Philadelphia. [1] Other stories speak of a witch named Mom Rinkle [2] who had little to do with the Revolutionary War. History allows that the American General John Armstrong, compelled by the rough terrain to abandon a cannon in the valley, did express his contempt for the "horrendous hills of the Wissahickon" over which Mom Rinker's Rock stands today.

Here on May 15, 1847, the evening of a new moon, the American novelist, journalist, playwright, social activist, and labour organizer George Lippard was married to his frail young wife. Years afterward in 1883, a statue dedicated to Toleration was erected, a marble statue of a man in simple Quaker clothing; the nine-foot eight-inch statue has but the single word “Toleration” carved into its four-foot three-inch base. The statue was created by late 19th-century sculptor Herman Kirn, and brought to the site by landowner John Welsh, reported to have purchased the statue at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Welsh, a former Fairmount Park Commissioner and U.S. Ambassador to Britain, donated his land to the Park prior to his death in 1886.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial Exposition</span> First official Worlds Fair held in the US, 1876

The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Officially named the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, it was held in Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River on fairgrounds designed by Herman J. Schwarzmann. Nearly 10 million visitors attended the exposition, and 37 countries participated in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxborough, Philadelphia</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Roxborough is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is bordered to the southwest, along the Schuylkill River, by the neighborhood of Manayunk, along the northeast by the Wissahickon Creek section of Fairmount Park, and to the southeast by the neighborhood of East Falls. Beyond Roxborough to the northwest is Montgomery County. Roxborough's ZIP code is 19128. Most of Roxborough is in Philadelphia's 21st Ward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairmount Park</span> United States historic place

Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres (830 ha). Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon Creek</span> Creek in Philadelphia

Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<i>Swann Memorial Fountain</i> Fountain by Alexander Stirling Calder

The Swann Memorial Fountain is an art deco fountain sculpture located in the center of Logan Circle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Falls, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

East Falls is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schuylkill Canal and Fairmount Water Works projects. East Falls sits next to the Germantown, Roxborough, Allegheny West, and Nicetown-Tioga neighborhoods, and to Wissahickon Valley Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Northwest Philadelphia is a section of the city of Philadelphia. The official boundary is Stenton Avenue to the north, the Schuylkill River to the southwest, Northwestern Avenue to the northwest, Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, and Wister Street and Stenton Avenue to the east. The area is divided by Wissahickon Creek into two subsections, Upper Northwest and Lower Northwest Philadelphia. Upper Northwest are Germantown, Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Cedarbrook; Lower Northwest are Roxborough, Wissahickon, East Falls, and Manayunk. The area of Philadelphia west of the Schuylkill River is known as West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department patrols two districts located within Northwest Philadelphia. The two patrol districts serving Northwest Philadelphia are the 5th and 14th districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Kelpius</span> German born American mystic

Johannes Kelpius was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer. He was also interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy. He came to believe with his followers – called the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" – that the end of the world would occur in 1694. This belief, based on an elaborate interpretation of Revelation 12:6, anticipated the advent of a heavenly kingdom somewhere in the wilderness during that year. Kelpius felt that the seventeenth-century Province of Pennsylvania, given its reputation for religious toleration at the edge of a barely settled wilderness, was the best place to be. Philadelphia had been founded in 1682, but the city and the Province of Pennsylvania had quickly become a tolerant haven and refuge for many pietist, communitarian, or free-thinking groups who were leaving the Old World for the congenial religious climate of the British colony. Kelpius and his followers crossed the Atlantic and lived in the valley of the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia from 1694 until his death. It is reported that they lived communally, though they also spent time in solitary meditation in caves and small cells scattered about their common living quarters. Though no sign or revelation accompanied the year 1694, the faithful, known as the Hermits or Mystics of the Wissahickon, continued to live in celibacy, searching the stars and hoping for the end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper Mill Run</span> Creek in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Paper Mill Run, also known as Monoshone Creek, is a small tributary of Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Its watershed includes parts of the Mount Airy and Germantown neighborhoods of Philadelphia. For most of its length, the present-day stream flows under Lincoln Drive. The stream first sees daylight near Johnson Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cresheim Creek</span>

Cresheim Creek is a creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising at Wyndmoor in Springfield Township, it runs about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southwest, passing through part of Northwest Philadelphia and forming the boundary between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, before emptying into the Wissahickon Creek at Devil's Pool not far south of the Valley Green Inn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walnut Lane Bridge</span> Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Walnut Lane Bridge is a concrete arch bridge located in Northwest Philadelphia that connects the Germantown and Roxborough neighborhoods across the Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park. While drivers may cross the bridge too quickly to notice, the view from underneath the bridge has inspired many artists and writers, such as Christopher Morley. The design was copied from Pont Adolphe in Luxembourg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Valley Park, Ridge Avenue, Hermit Street, and Henry Avenue. The name of the neighborhood comes from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith Memorial Arch</span> Triumphal arch in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Smith Memorial Arch is an American Civil War monument at South Concourse and Lansdowne Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built on the former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it serves as a gateway to West Fairmount Park. The Memorial consists of two colossal columns supported by curving, neo-Baroque arches, and adorned with 13 individual portrait sculptures ; two eagles standing on globes; and architectural reliefs of 8 allegorical figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon Valley Park</span>

Wissahickon Valley Park is a large urban park in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It protects 2,042 acres (8.26 km2) of woodland surrounding the Wissahickon Creek between the Montgomery County border and the Schuylkill River. For several miles, the creek winds through a dramatic wooded gorge known as the Wissahickon Valley, a National Natural Landmark.

W.B. Saul High School, previously the Walter Biddle Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences, is a magnet high school in Roxborough, Philadelphia. The school, a part of the School District of Philadelphia, serves grades 9 through 12. Saul is a magnet school in the agricultural fields.

<i>Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain</i>

The Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain (1874–77) – also known as The Catholic Total Abstinence Centennial Fountain or The Centennial Fountain – is a now defunct ornamental fountain and drinking fountain located in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Created as an attraction for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it was commissioned by the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, a religious organization that advocated for total abstinence from alcohol.

Blue Bell Hill Park commonly known as Blue Bell Park is a small park located in Blue Bell Hill by Germantown, Philadelphia. The park is located on the Wissahickon Creek and is directly southeast of Wissahickon Valley Park. The RittenhouseTown Historic District is located at Blue Bell Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Ulysses S. Grant</span> Statue in Philadelphia, PA, USA

The equestrian statue of Ulysses S. Grant is a public monument in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in Fairmount Park, the monument honors Ulysses S. Grant, who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later as President of the United States. The monument was designed by Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter and consists of an equestrian statue atop a pedestal. The statue was dedicated in 1899.

References

  1. Frank, Lisa Tendrich, ed. (2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields. ABC-CLIO. pp. 471–472. ISBN   978-1-59884-443-6.
  2. Pepper, Elizabeth, ed. (2003). Witches All: A Treasury from Past Editions of the Witches' Almanac. Witches' Almanac. p. 17. ISBN   9781881098263.

Coordinates: 40°02′02″N75°11′57″W / 40.034006°N 75.199099°W / 40.034006; -75.199099