Protect and Preserve What You Can Do It’s easy to get involved in the Pennypack Greenway. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
n Encourage your municipal officials to protect the Within one of the most rapidly developing environmentally sensitive lands identified in local parts of Pennsylvania is found a creek open space plans. n Get dirty! Participate in one of the creek cleanups and watershed system that has sustained held throughout the Greenway.
remnants of the primal beauty and wildlife n Stand up for the creek at municipal meetings when your commissioners and council members are that have existed within it for thousands discussing stormwater management.
of years. It is the Pennypack Creek n Enjoy one of the many annual events that take place along the Greenway such as sheep shearing, Maple watershed, a system that feeds Pennypack Sugar Day, and Applefest at Fox Chase Farm. Creek as it runs from its headwaters in Bucks and Montgomery counties, through If You Have a Yard n Make your yard friendlier for wildlife by planting Philadelphia and into the Delaware River. native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. Audubon Publicly accessible pockets of this graceful Pennsylvania’s “Audubon At Home” program can help. n Minimize or eliminate your use of pesticides, natural environment are used daily by herbicides, and fertilizers.
thousands of citizens, young and old, providing a refuge from the pressures n Control (or eliminate) aggressive non-native plants of daily life. Yet this system faces real threats. Undeveloped land alongside infesting your garden. n Reduce the paving on your property to allow Pennypack Creek is sought after for development and there isn’t a protected rainwater to percolate into the soil, and install rain passage through it. The result of this development is increased water pollution, barrels on your downspouts. bank erosion and the loss of habitat and wildlife. n If you have a stream on your property, allow an unmowed strip between your lawn and the stream.
Whether you are someone who uses one of the special natural areas or parks Join a Group Working to daily, visits occasionally, or has children who play along the banks of the creek, Protect the Greenway your participation and support of the Pennypack Greenway is essential. To Become a supporter of one or more of the groups already working to protect and expand enhance and protect this rare natural treasure and to preserve it for future the Pennypack Greenway:
generations, the time to act is now! Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust 2955 Edge Hill Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 215-657-0830 Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) www.pennypacktrust.org
Montgomery County Lands Trust PO Box 300, Lederach, PA 19450 215-513-0100 ome of the busiest, most congested and stress-inducing traffic is found on www.mclt.org roads crossing southeastern Pennsylvania—the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Audubon Pennsylvania 1201 Pawling Road, Audubon, PA 19403 U.S. 1, and Interstate 95. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of the drivers 610-666-5593 S http://pa.audubon.org barreling down these highways, they are crossing some of the quietest, greenest, Friends of Fox Chase Farm 8500 Pine Road, Philadelphia, PA 19111 215-728-7900 and most restful landscapes in the urbanized East—the Pennypack Greenway. www.foxchasefarm.org
Friends of Pennypack Park Anchored by two large and some stay to nest. Dozens of species are year-round PO Box 14302, Philadelphia, PA 19115 Recreation and Healthy Lifestyles 215-934-7275 public parks and a private residents. More than 200 species of birds have been One day, a trail may stitch together many of the natural www.balford.com/fopp natural area in its southern recorded in the Greenway—half of all bird species areas along the creek. But it is not necessary to wait for a half near the Delaware recorded in Pennsylvania. In the creek itself, hickory Natural Lands Trust completed trail to enjoy the Greenway. Pennypack Park River, the planned shad and other migratory fish may 1031 Palmers Mill Road, Media, PA 19063 provides dozens of miles of hiking and equestrian trails 610-353-5587 Greenway narrows to hug soon be spawning again after having and features a popular 9-mile paved all-purpose trail www.natlands.org the Pennypack Creek tightly been excluded from the creek from Pennypack on the Delaware north to Pine Road. through its central reaches, three centuries ago when milldams Pennypack Environmental Center Pennypack Park’s trail system directly links to six miles of then broadens again in the blocked their upstream passage. 8600 A Verree Road, Philadelphia, PA 19115 trails in Lorimer Park, and the Pennypack Preserve offers 215-685-0470 northernmost headwaters. Several of the Greenway Partners hikers, bikers, and nature lovers 10 more miles of trail Chicken Mushroom www.fairmountpark.org Flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) (Polyporus sulphureus) are actively removing or retrofitting Encompassing 2,650 acres, to explore. The Powerline the remaining dams, which will improve water quality Pennypack Farm Education Center the Greenway will link communities and neighborhoods, Trail, currently 2.5 miles and free the fish to migrate once again. And in the fields, for Sustainable Food Systems provide countless opportunities for healthful recreation, long, joins the Greenway 685 Mann Road, Horsham, PA 19044 woodlands, and swamps alongside the creek there can be maintain and improve environmental quality, and act as in Horsham, and the 215-646-3943 found at least 650 plant species. These green communities a psychic “safety valve” for the hundreds of thousands eastern end of Montgomery www.pennypackfarm.org create the habitat upon which the Greenway’s animals of residents and visitors who live nearby and enjoy the County’s Cross-County Trail depend—the valley’s wild turkeys, red foxes, red-bellied Southeastern Montgomery County Trout Unlimited Greenway regularly—even if the contact is as brief as will begin at the Greenway turtles, opossums, bats, chipmunks, and many others. Chapter #468 watching horses grazing peacefully in a foggy meadow when it is completed in the www.tu468.org during the morning commute. next few years. Sledders in Lorimer Park In addition to trail-oriented activities, municipal and Environmental Benefits Great Things to Do in the Location county parkland within the Greenway provides unlimited The Pennypack Greenway cleans water as it flows off our Pennypack Greenway recreational opportunities. Municipalities have developed communities’ streets and sidewalks, stabilizes the amount The Pennypack Greenway’s gentle, verdant curve n Enjoy a picnic at Pennypack on the Delaware while playgrounds, ball fields, picnic areas, fitness courses, and of water in streams so that we can fish year-round, allows embraces Philadelphia’s near-northern suburbs and you take in great views of the Delaware River. basketball courts that welcome the public. Fishing is floodwaters to spread out harmlessly, filters dust, dirt the city’s northeastern neighborhoods. Bordering its popular along many stretches of Pennypack Creek, and and pollutants from the air, cools our neighborhoods, n Listen to music under the stars on summer namesake creek, the completed Pennypack Greenway cross-country skiers and sledders enjoy the thrills offered and holds our soil in place so it doesn’t wash away. The Wednesday evenings at the Pennypack Band Shell. will measure 21 miles. Pennypack Creek rises from Visit www.fairmountpark.org for the full schedule. by the rolling landscape during the winter. benefits to our communities provided by the Pennypack springs on College Settlement Camp—the northern Greenway are so valuable that replacing them with n Hike or bike on miles of trails in Pennypack Park. end of the Greenway, located in Horsham Township, engineered and manufactured alternatives would be Montgomery County. Gathering waters from tributaries n Fostering a Sense of Community unaffordable. Greenways like the Pennypack add value Attend an event at Fox Chase Farm with your family. in 11 municipalities in Montgomery and Bucks counties, See the cows, sheep and pigs up close, walk through to property located near the preserved woods and fields, the creek enters Philadelphia on its way to the Delaware The Pennypack Greenway threads through seven the livestock barns and enjoy scenic vistas. and the value is not limited solely to the lots immediately River at Pennypack on municipalities in two counties. Each of these individual municipalities has a adjacent to the greenway. Interconnected greenways, n Visit Pennypack Environmental Center for a bird walk, the Delaware, a recreation stream hike, evening campfire, or other program. distinct character and parks and trails enhance all of our communities and help complex in Philadelphia’s Volunteer for an ecological restoration project. to assure that they remain desirable places in which to Holmesburg neighborhood 10 identity, as do a dozen or live and work. n miles northeast of Center City. so neighborhoods through Fish, hike or picnic in the 230-acre oasis of woods and which the creek flows in meadows of Lorimer Park. Philadelphia. The creek n Work up a sweat helping to rescue trees from History and Culture and its Greenway foster a invasive vines during one of the Pennypack Ecological sense of community linking Restoration Trust’s weekend “Free A Tree” forays. During colonial times, the diverse neighborhoods Pennypack valley’s proximity around a shared resource. to one of America’s earliest and Active Partners: Repeated flooding has largest settlements coupled forced the communities with its abundant water power along the creek’s banks to resources guaranteed its rapid think outside their own conversion from forest to an borders because the causes agricultural and industrial of the flooding transcend landscape featuring 30 mills municipal boundaries. A and dozens of bustling villages. growing network of public Northern Mockingbird The advent of the railroads (Mimus polyglottos) trails is poised to connect in the mid 19th century the Greenway to the web connected the Greenway’s Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) of trails crisscrossing the villages to Philadelphia region. With the possibility that an unused rail line in and further transformed the valley. Now largely urban the central part of the Greenway might become available and suburban with over 250,000 residents, the valley for conversion to a trail, there’s great potential for nevertheless retains pieces of its colonial history. strengthening community connections. For example, the Greenway contains 43 sites either already listed or determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. From the A Natural Haven nation’s oldest stone arch bridge (1697) that crosses the Pennypack where Native Americans had forded the creek The mixed oak woodlands that to distinctive religious institutions and museums perched give character to the Pennypack on the valley’s rim, the Pennypack Greenway offers a Greenway provide habitat for a cultural panorama that spans our nation’s heritage. rich diversity of species—some rare and endangered. In the skies overhead, the Pennypack Greenway is an important Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) For information about the Pennypack Greenway component of the Atlantic Flyway along which birds The Pennypack Greenway Partnership is a group of nonprofit and to view a video about the greenway visit: organizations and communities that work together to preserve, migrate with the seasons. Many thousands of birds use www.pennypackgreenway.org expand, and restore the natural areas along the Pennypack the Greenway to rest and refuel during their migrations, Creek. The Partnership is committed to linking the Greenway’s neighborhoods and communities, improving water resources, enhancing recreational opportunities, and safeguarding the Map designed by Miller Designworks and produced by the GreenSpace Alliance with support from the Beneficia Foundation. Greenway’s natural and cultural heritage. PA Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf secured a grant from PA Department of Community and Economic Development for printing of this brochure. 1 Pennypack Farm Route 263 Bris tol Educational Center Roa d for Sustainable Food Systems is a nonprofit organization focused on increasing public understanding of the
health, economic, ecological, and social Bucks Count Jacksonville Road issues related to sustainable local food Montgomery County Street Road systems. The farm offers educational y
rk Road programs and operates a Community
Supported Agriculture vegetable farm for Old Yo shareholders. www.pennypackfarm.org Horsham Road
Easton Roa
Horsham County Line Road d Warminster 2 3 Bryn Athyn
town Road Route 23 Norris Hatboro Cathedral is a place of worship for the Christian faith known as the General 1 Church of the New Upper Moreland Jerusalem and is open for tours. www.brynathyncathedral.org. The
Route 611 Upper Southamptont nearby Glencairn Museum, originally the home of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn, uses arts and artifacts from Pennsylvania Turnpike Interstate 276 many cultures and time periods to educate visitors about the history of religion. www.glencairnmuseum.org Upper Dublin Byberry Road ike
ingdon P
Hunt 2 Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, Route 263 a nonprofit land trust with headquarters Bucks Coun in Huntingdon Valley, is dedicated to the Te Moreland Roa Montgomery County protection, restoration, and preservation of rwood Road ty over 700 acres in the Pennypack Preserve. d Educational programs, volunteer opportunities, 2 and miles of trails open to the public make the 1 6 Lorimer Park, a Preserve a popular destination for outdoor 61 Bryn Athyn popular trout stocking enthusiasts. www.pennypacktrust.org Easton Road Route 3 location for anglers, is noted for hiking, picnicking, wildlife d watching and, in winter, sledding and cross-
rk Roa Edge Hill Road country skiing. The property was donated 4 Old We to Montgomery County by the late George Susquehanna Road Old Yo lsh Road Horace Lorimer, former Editor-in-Chief of enue Philmont Av The Saturday Evening Post.
Abington Montgomery County
Philadelphia County 4 Fetter’s Mill Historic District, added to Lower Moreland the National Register of Historic Places in 8 Pennypack Red 2006, encompasses eight structures nestled Lion Road We Environmental
in a scenic hollow. The community originally lsh Road Center, located in developed around Fetter’s Mill (1740), and then Fairmount Park, was expanded when the Pennsylvania and Reading dedicated in 1958 Railroad added a station in 1880. as a bird sanctuary and offers educational and Meetinghouse Road rree Road Ve volunteer opportunities. It features an outdoor 5 6 amphitheater, exhibits, meeting room, reference library, Easton Road campfire and picnic areas. Jenkintown www.farimountpark.org enue enue 5 Council Rock is a rugged outcropping 7 Greenwood Av overlooking Pennypack Creek in Lorimer Park. Legend has it that Native Americans held 8 Bustleton Av ceremonial meetings at this picturesque location.
Roosevelt Boulevard Rockledgekle Church Roa Bustleton
d Grant Av
Montgomery County en ue 7 Fox Chase Farm, a 112-acre To Fox Chase wnship L Philadelphia County Welch & Blue Grass Vicinity educational working farm, is one ine Road of the few remaining farms in a Academy Road Bells Corner W major American city. The farm elsh Road hosts popular annual events such as sheep shearing, Maple Sugar Day and Applefest, as well as weekday programs for area schools. www.foxchasefarm.org Winchester Ave Vicinity Burholme
Route 1
Cottman A Holme Avenue 9 Pennypack Band Shell Rhawnhurst venue Lexington has hosted big name bands Winchester Park Pennypack Woods Map Key such as Glenn Miller and the Tommy Dorsey
e 9 Orchestra. The neighborhood venue now nu 10 Frankford
Point of Interest ve hosts the revived Pennypack Park Festival A Avenue Bridge, Parking on summer Wednesday evenings featuring built in 1697, is Upper Holmesburg
Oxford 10 Picnic Area everything from “doo-wop” to big bands. the oldest stone Upper Mayfair Restrooms arch bridge in continuous use in America. venue Playground The bridge is on what was once called the King’s Highway, the main route from Pennypack Greenway is located Streams Frankford A Holmesburg in Southeastern Pennsylvania Philadelphia to Trenton and New York. Interstate 95 Preserved Greenway Unpreserved Greenway East Mayfair Watershed 11 Major Roads 11 Pennypack on the Delaware offers an unparalleled view of the Delaware County Lines Pennypack Park, part of the River and a connection to the future Municipalities Fairmount Park system, stretches East Coast Greenway. Opened in 1998, Delaware River Existing Trails the park includes a fishing pier, paved trail, eight nine miles from the Delaware River Future Trails soccer fields, four softball fields, and restrooms. northwest to Philadelphia’s border (As of January 2008) with Montgomery County. In addition to many scenic vistas and picnic areas along the meandering For information about the Pennypack Greenway creek, the park features paved and and to view a video about the greenway visit: unpaved paths for bikers, joggers, www.pennypackgreenway.org 010.5 2 miles walkers, and equestrians.