City Cycling 5: Fairmount Park

   Although I’ve been doing some rehab on a pulled left hamstring, I didn’t want to let my fitness drop away. The doctor had given me the okay to keep riding, but he had also advised me to keep the out-of-the-saddle-type hammering to a minimum. Maybe next time I feel my saddle is a bit high, I should just pull over and adjust it, no matter who I’m with and how much I’m enjoying the pace!

   A couple weekends ago I set off for Philadelphia again, this time to do a U-shaped route through Fairmount Park. The name first appears on plans for the city over 300 years ago, when William Penn’s surveyor, Thomas Holme observed a spot of high ground (where the Art Museum is now located) and called it “Faire Mount” - the name stuck!

   The park encompassed 2,000 acres by 1855 and became a model for urban parks around the world. Four of Penn’s original five town squares - Rittenhouse, Washington, Franklin and Logan - are still part of Fairmount Park with Center Square becoming the site of City Hall.

   Over the years, more land was added to both sides of the Schuylkill River, and in 1876 the growing park became the site of the nation’s huge Centennial Exhibition. Of the more than 200 buildings constructed in West Fairmount Park, only two remain (more on those later), but at the time, well-traveled writer Lafcadio Hearn wrote that the park “is the most beautiful place of the whole civilized world...Your (New York City's) Central Park is a cabbage garden by comparison.” 

   Instead of following the usual route, where I would turn right after crossing Wissahickon Creek to follow the Schuylkill Trail, I continued along Ridge Avenue up onto the high ground along the east bank of the river. After passing the Laurel Hill Cemetery, which in 1836 became the nation’s first burial site designed by an architect (if you’re into that sort of thing), I turned right onto Huntingdon Drive to visit Strawberry Mansion.

   This is the largest mansion in the park, with a Federal-style center section and Greek Revival wings. Originally called “Summerville” by Quaker owner Judge William Lewis, Strawberry Mansion was built in 1790 and received its current moniker when the site became a dairy farm, serving strawberries and cream in the mid-1800s. The Marquis de Lafayette, John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster have been among the mansion’s guests.

   Continuing counterclockwise around Woodford Drive, I reached its namesake Woodford Estate. The main Georgian brick house with separate servant’s quarters and stable, was built in 1756 and is now home to the Naomi Wood Collection of colonial furnishings. The estate was constructed by William Coleman, a friend of Ben Franklin, who was a Philadelphia merchant and later a judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

   I turned right on Greenland Drive, then made another right onto Dauphin Street and passed the Medicine Man sculpture (photo left) to reach Edgley Field. The road looping the athletic grounds is clockwise one-way, but because it is plenty wide for two-way traffic, and since it was mid-afternoon on a weekday with no cars around, I kind of cheated and shortcut my way across to Laurel Hill.

   This lovely Georgian mansion was built in the 1760s on a laurel-covered hillside overlooking the Schuylkill. The residence was once a gift from Dr. Philip Syng Physick, considered the father of American surgery, to his daughter Sally Randolph. 

   I headed down Reservoir Drive and passed Ormiston, a red brick Georgian house built in 1798 by lawyer Edward Burd. It is named for his grandfather’s home village, just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. Another “one-way-cheat” down Mt. Pleasant Drive led me past Rockland Mansion, a Federal-style structure that has undergone a recent restoration and is now the home of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.   

   A bit farther along sits Mount Pleasant, a Georgian mansion once described by John Adams as “the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania”. Sea captain John MacPherson, a Scot who made his fortune as a privateer, oversaw the construction of his home in 1762, which has distinct symmetry inside and out.

   The estate was purchased in 1779 by Benedict Arnold for his wife Peggy Shippen, though the couple never actually moved in, as Arnold fled the country after being exposed as a traitor. Because of Arnold’s plot to surrender the fort at West Point to British forces, it is quite ironic that in 1792 Mount Pleasant was purchased by Jonathan Williams, who had become the first superintendent of the military academy at West Point in 1801.

   Thomas Jefferson appointed Williams to serve concurrently as commander of the Army Corps of Engineers. As a member of the American Philosophical Society, Williams published several scientific articles and was also elected to the Fourteenth U.S. Congress. The Harvard graduate came by his intelligence honestly, being the grand-nephew (is that really a thing?) of Benjamin Franklin. Williams is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

   Pedaling south once more on Reservoir Drive, I eventually made a right at 33rd Street and veered left onto Poplar Drive. At the intersection with Sedgley Drive, I continued straight across onto Lemon Hill and weaved my way up to the mansion of the same name. The Adamesque Federal-style (yeah, you might want to look up that architectural info) structure was completed in 1800 by Henry Pratt, a Philadelphia merchant and owner of several city properties.

   Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution, had at one time built a farm and greenhouses on “The Hills”, as he called it, and when Pratt bought 43 acres (a small part of the original 300-acre property!), lemon trees were indeed growing here. The high ground, particularly at this time of the year with the trees bare, affords a wonderful view of Boathouse Row and the city skyline beyond, so I used this opportunity for a mid-trip snack.

   I looped around to Sedgley and “wrong-wayed it” one last time back to cross the river on the Girard Avenue Bridge. I didn’t take the time to visit the Philadelphia Zoo, America’s first zoological park (opened 1874) and home to more than 2000 animals from around the world, but I intend to return for a tour later this spring, as it has undergone major renovations since I last visited when my boys were young.

   By the way, be sure to notice the Victorian gatehouses designed by legendary architect Frank Furness. The man designed more than 600 buildings, most of which were near Philadelphia, and was a huge influence on “father of skyscrapers and modernism” Louis Sullivan, who was a mentor for Frank Lloyd Wright and H.H. Richardson. Incredibly, Furness’ bold style fell out of favor and many of his most significant works were demolished in the 20th century.

   The area here, with trolley tracks and four lanes of heavy traffic isn’t very conducive to cycling, so I did some slow sidewalk shuffling to reach Parkside Avenue, where I could cut across to reach one of the two remaining structures from the Centennial Exhibition, Memorial Hall.

   The state of Pennsylvania and City of Philadelphia built the Beaux Arts structure, designed by Hermann J. Schwarzmann, at a cost of $1.5 million. With the intent for its use as an international art museum, the hall would also be a permanent memorial to the centennial celebration. The building now houses the Please Touch Museum, which includes a 20 x 40-foot model of the exposition grounds and a wonderfully restored Denzel Carousel, built in 1902, for Woodside Amusement Park, which existed in West Fairmount until 1955.

   Most of the remaining destinations in West Fairmount were connected by paved trails, making stops easy and nearly traffic-free! Turning back towards the river I first visited Sweetbriar, a symmetrical Federal-style mansion that was built in 1797 by Samuel and Jean Beck to escape the yellow fever epidemic that killed thousands of Philadelphians between 1793 and 1800.

   A short distance north along Lansdowne Drive was Cedar Grove, a gray fieldstone house that had been erected originally in the Frankford section of the city in 1748. The house was passed down through five generations of women, until it was donated to the city, dismantled and moved to Fairmount Park. The interior furnishings nicely reflect changing styles through the years.

   In a neat little triangular piece of land at the intersection of Lansdowne and Horticultural Drives sits the Shofu-So (pine breeze villa) Japanese House and Garden. The structure was once a display at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and was moved here in the 1950s. The Japanese government had the house refurbished as a gift to honor our country’s bicentennial.

   I was soon pedaling through the grounds of the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center and followed the trail until I reached Belmont Avenue. Just across the street was Ohio House, the other remaining structure from the Centennial Exhibition. The Victorian Gothic cottage was constructed with stone from twenty-one quarries in the state of Ohio.

   After making a right turn onto Montgomery Avenue, I made a quick left and climbed to the top of the Belmont Plateau. At 240 feet above the Schuylkill, the plateau provides one of the best vistas of the city. The Palladian-style Belmont Mansion was built in 1745 by English lawyer William Peters, who had served as land agent for the Penn family. The building now houses the Underground Railroad Museum.

   Coming down the other side of the plateau, I made a right turn on Belmont Avenue and made my way to Conshohocken State Road. I soon connected with the south end of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, and I was homeward bound!