“1854,” says Jacques-Jean “JJ” Tiziou, with authority, when asked about the origins of Philadelphia’s borders. “That’s when the Consolidation was signed: February 2, 1854.” Good luck finding another Philadelphian who could, on the spot, provide the exact date on which the Consolidation Act transformed the neat rectangle of William Penn’s colonial city — from Vine
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A flock of passenger pigeons rests frozen in time on the third floor of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The birds feed on the ground, rest on twigs and raise their wings to take to the air in a beech forest whose colonnade of gray trunks recedes into the diorama’s painted background.
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How much do you love your park? Maybe enough to organize or participate in a cleanup, raise or donate money to make an improvement, or lead an educational walk. Or maybe you don’t have the time or money to donate, but simply find your local park to be a refuge — and appreciate the work
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Will Ryan faces a half-dead (yet half-alive) ash tree deep in the woods of Tyler Arboretum and ties a plastic pill bottle around its trunk. Inside is a folded white paper dotted with tiny black specks that look like poppy seeds. He ties the bottle to the tree and takes off the cap. Those tiny
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Throughout July 18 and 19, visitors arrived at South Philadelphia’s Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park with a unique task — to perform for a tree. The production, “Arborlogues,” is a touring piece developed by Other Forms Of (OFO) Theater, a company led by set designer Dan Daly that emphasizes theatrical experimentation through unorthodox sets. Billed as
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Sometimes Linde Lauff sees a pile of construction waste in Pennypack Park and thinks, that shouldn’t be there. Not just in a general way in which, ideally, no litter should ever pollute a natural space, much less the enraging detritus left behind by short dumping. For her, the frustration is much more specific. A little
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A new Park Ambassador program from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation is focused on keeping park spaces clean while building stronger connections with the people who use them. Funded by the William Penn Foundation, the two-year pilot places ambassadors at Mifflin Square, Tacony Creek, Cobbs Creek and Fairmount parks with the goal of reducing illegal dumping
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In the year since Borski Park officially opened along the Delaware riverfront in Bridesburg, it has been home to an exciting slate of events, including a five-day beer pop-up hosted by Parks on Tap, a weekly “silver sneakers” exercise class designed for older adults, and a patriotic bicycle decorating contest celebrating July 4. But for
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When we went to print last month with “APOCALYPSE NOW” splashed across the cover in 138-point type above a raging Canadian wildfire, I wondered if people would think we were being alarmist. Little did I know that the cover would prove timely. It wasn’t just the smoky air from those Canadian fires haunting us. It
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We often think of nature as something untouched: a world apart from our city blocks and neighborhoods, where we go to escape the pace of daily life, take a walk, appreciate wildlife or simply find a moment of quiet. But the landscapes we cherish are rarely separate from us. In reality, behind every thriving park,
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