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.
Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and rowing clubs and their racing shells. Each of the boathouses has its own history, and all have addresses on both Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive.
The Schuylkill Navy is an association of amateur rowing clubs of Philadelphia. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States. The member clubs are all on the Schuylkill River where it flows through Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, mostly on the historic Boathouse Row.
The Lighthouse on Turtle Rock is a lighthouse built in 1887 to aid traffic on the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The lighthouse was constructed by Frank Thurwanger at a cost of $2,663 on an area of land just west of Boathouse Row. The lighthouse has a hexagonal lantern room with an octagonal walkway. Gas was first used to power the light, but in 1990, when the lighthouse was repainted and received a new wooden balustrade and newel posts, the beacon was electrified.
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.
Bachelors Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #6 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuously operating boathouse in the United States. It went through renovations as part of the "Light Boathouse Row" initiative, in which new LED lights were fitted to each of the boathouses. Bachelors Barge Club is currently home to several programs, including the Conestoga High School Crew Team, and the Drexel University Crew Team, among several others.
Lemon Hill is a Federal-style mansion in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, built from 1799 to 1800 by Philadelphia merchant Henry Pratt. The house is named after the citrus fruits that Pratt cultivated on the property in the early 19th century.
Sedgeley was a mansion, designed by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and built on the east banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, USA, in 1799–1802.
Fairmount Rowing Association is an amateur rowing club, founded in 1877. The facility, located at #2 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Fairmount originally catered to blue-collar youths living in the Fairmount neighborhood. In 1916, after decades of being rejected, the club was finally allowed to join the Schuylkill Navy. The Club boasts being known as the "premiere club for Masters rowing in the mid-Atlantic region" and has produced several world class rowers.
University Barge Club of Philadelphia is an amateur rowing club located at #7 in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark. The club's founding, in 1854, is considered the "dawn of organized athletics in the University of Pennsylvania." Known as "the upper-class rowing club," UBC is a founder, and the most senior member, of the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States, the Schuylkill Navy.
Pennsylvania Barge Club is an amateur rowing club, situated along the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1861 and joined the Schuylkill Navy in 1865. The club's boathouse, at #4 Boathouse Row, is also known as the Hollenback House, named for William M. Hollenback, Jr., who served as President of USRowing from 1979 until 1985.
Crescent Boat Club is an American amateur rowing club located at #5 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1867 when Pickwick Barge Club and Iona Barge Club merged. Crescent Boat Club joined the Schuylkill Navy in 1868. In 1871, Crescent competed in and won the doubles event in the first regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, an event "which undoubtedly helped the sport greatly."
Boelson Cottage is a Dutch and Swedish-style colonial era cottage located in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The 1+1⁄2-story gambrel-roofed fieldstone cottage was built sometime between 1678 and 1684. The cottage is situated on the west bank of the Schuylkill River within a plot of 100 acres (40 ha) of land granted to John Boelson in 1677 by the Swedish colonial court in Upland, Pennsylvania. Boelson's cottage is the oldest extant structure in Fairmount Park.
Cedar Grove Mansion, located in west Fairmount Park, was the summer residence for five generations of Philadelphia families. The house was built as a rural retreat from city life, and was originally located within the present day Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, about 4 mi (6.4 km) beyond the colonial-era city limits. In 1746, Elizabeth Coates Paschall purchased the property on which the house was subsequently built. Paschall was a widow with three children who had inherited her husband's dry goods business and desired a rural retreat from the city near her father's farm in Frankford. Construction of the grey stone house on a plot of 15 acres (6.1 ha) along Frankford Road began in 1748 and continued to 1750.
The Ohio House, or Ohio State Building, is a historic building located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The house was built from various Ohio sandstones and functioned as the Ohio state exhibit for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. The only other extant exposition structures are Memorial Hall and two small comfort stations; the building is the only extant state exhibit remaining from the exposition. The house was restored for the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, and leased to Ohio House Partners by the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust in 2006. After extensive restoration, the building was opened to the public in November 2007 and has since functioned as a cafe, event venue and offices.
Ormiston Mansion is a 2+1⁄2-story, red brick, late Georgian period house located in east Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The house was constructed in 1798 with a large wooden porch in front and a smaller porch in the rear. Many of the original interior features remain including fireplaces with marble mantles and a Scottish bake oven. The cedar shake roof includes a widow's walk and Federal-style dormers, while six large shuttered windows are on each side of the house, and five on the front. The first floor interior includes a large drawing room spanning the entire width of the house, a kitchen, and a dining room with a large door leading to the rear porch. The back of the house overlooks the Schuylkill River.
Ridgeland Mansion is a historic two-and-a-half story, gable-roofed house located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The land was purchased by a yeoman named William Couch in 1718 and the current house was probably constructed sometime between 1752 and 1762. Originally a farm house, it was expanded to mansion proportions through various alterations and additions made by later owners, as well as by the city which had acquired the property in 1869 for the expansion of Fairmount Park. George Clymer, a Founding Father of the United States, owned the house between 1784 and 1794, though he apparently only rented it out and never lived there.
Rockland Mansion is a 2+1⁄2-story Federal-style mansion located in east Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, overlooking the Schuylkill River. The land was bought by a Philadelphia merchant named George Thomson in 1809. The mansion was completed circa 1810 using rubble stone for the masonry work which was then finished with stucco scored to resemble cut stone. Thomson used the house as a summer residence for about five years and then sold it to another merchant named Isaac Jones in 1815 whose son sold it to the city in 1870. The house and original plot of 26 acres (11 ha) of land are situated adjacent to the Mount Pleasant Mansion along Mount Pleasant Drive.
The Solitude Mansion is a historic two-and-a-half story Federal-style mansion located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, above the banks of the Schuylkill River on the grounds of the Philadelphia Zoo. The house was built sometime between 1784 and 1785, and historical records suggest that it was designed by its owner John Penn, grandson of William Penn, the founder of the city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania. The mansion is also referred to as The Solitude and The Solitude House, as well as the John Penn House and simply Solitude without the definite article. The name of the house was inspired by the Duke of Württemberg's much larger Castle Solitude outside Stuttgart, Germany. The Solitude is the only extant home of a Penn family member in the United States.
