Open House Tours

Alnwick Grove Historical Society

Sunday Oct 28 1-4

2517 Fetter’s Mill Rd 19006

Fetter’s Mill at Fetter’s Mill Road and Pennypack Creek in Huntingdon Valley is a rare historic treasure.  During the 18th and 19th centuries, more than 40 water powered mills operated on the 20 mile-long Pennypack Creek and its tributaries.  The 5-story Fetter’s Mill, built circa 1750 by Joshua Morris and enlarged in the 1850’s by George Fetter, is the last one, essentially intact and exhibiting unaltered historic grist mill features.   Local historian and Alnwick Grove Historical Society member Fred Moore will conduct tours of the mill and mill race and dam. Open to all.

Note:  Fetter’s Mill Road Bridge, a metal through-truss bridge built 1883 and a historic treasurer in its own right, is currently closed to vehicular traffic, but safe for foot traffic.  Best access to the mill is from Huntingdon Pike via the bridge across from the Bryn Athyn Post Office (999 Fetters Mill Rd). Near and on-site parking is limited.  Consider parking at the Pennypack Trails parking lot at Welsh Rd and Terwood Rd and walking the scenic 3/4 mile along the creek to the mill on the old Philadelphia to Newtown Railroad track-bed recently converted as part of the Rails-to-Trails Project.

Also:  Local artist Donnette Glenn will be featured at Fetter’s Mill on Saturday, Oct 27, 10 AM- 6 PM.

October 27, 1918 1:00- 3:00

Richard Haw-Discussion and Book Signing –The Art of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is a preeminent global icon.  It is the world’s most famous and beloved bridge, a “must-see” tourist hotspot, and a vital factor of New York and overall American life.  For a hundred and thirty-five years it has inspired artists of all descriptions, fueling a constant stream of paintings, photographs, lithographs, etchings, advertising copy, movies, and book, magazine and LP covers.  The Brooklyn Bridge may, in fact, have the richest visual history of any man-made object, so much so, that almost no major American artist has failed to pay homage to the span in some form or other. Noted author and bridge expert Richard Haw will showcase this vibrant visual legacy while reminding us of the span’s impact on New York itself, be it political, social, technological or artistic.

Richard Haw is a professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  He is the author of The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History (2005), Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History (2008) and Engineering America: The Life and Times of John Roebling, which will be published next year by Oxford University Press.

This presentation is appropriate for all ages, and will take place inside the Roebling Museum’s Media Room. It is part of the museum’s monthly Saturday Lecture Series.

Advance reservations are strongly recommended. If you do not wish to purchase your ticket on-line, please call the museum at 609/499-7200 to reserve your seat.

Information on admission and directions to the museum:

http://roeblingmuseum.org/events/saturday-lecture-series-book-signing-and-discussion-with-author-richard-haw/

The Lower Merion Historical Society in collaboration with The Trails End Café

presents a lecture and discussion on the The Reading Railroad

Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 1:00pm

Founded in 1833, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, aka, The Reading, was one of the earliest public access railroads in the United States. The Main Line of the Reading Railroad runs the entire length of the river border of Lower Merion. Thus, Lower Merion is unique in being home to two major main lines – The Reading RR and The Pennsylvania RR.

The History of The Reading RR is rarely discussed and scantly recorded in much of our history and yet as the largest business corporation of its time, and the largest railroad corporation at the height of the Age of Railways in the US, the history of the Reading and its influence on America is very worthy of greater notice. By learning more about the Reading, your knowledge and interest in local history as well as American History will be greatly enhanced.

At the Trails End Café at Cynwyd Station, 375 Conshohocken State Road in Bala Cynwyd

Located at the Terminus of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail

This lecture and discussion will be led by Perry Hamilton, Secretary of The Lower Merion Historical Society.  Perry, a lifelong resident of Lower Merion & Narberth, has been assigned by The Lower Merion Historical Society to raise awareness of the Reading RR in our local history and develop a library of sources of this subject.

October 7 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Fairmount Water Works tour guide Sandy Sorlien leads a walk interpreting remnants of the 108-mile Schuylkill Navigation system along the Roxborough and Manayunk stretches of the river. We’ll meet at the old Shawmont Train Station on Shawmont Avenue, then walk downriver to Flat Rock Dam and the ruins of Lock 68, then along the Manayunk Canal to Lock 69/70 at Venice Island, the only canal “reach” of the 108-mile Schuylkill Navigation with intact lock walls remaining at both ends. A shuttle returns us to Shawmont. This walk is a complement to Sandy’s lecture at the University of Nature, but either event stands alone. Free; registration required.

Here is the link for registration

http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/blog/event/walking-tour-of-schuylkill-river-history/#.W7TNPDk9HWg.facebook.

Northeast Philadelphia History Network, Monthly Meeting

Topic:  1697 Pennypack Creek Bridge Rehabilitation

Speaker:  Mike Cuddy, Project Designer

Rehabilitating the 321-year-old bridge was no easy task. Yet the rehabilitation of the bridge carrying Frankford Avenue over Pennypack Creek in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia will forever be a part of its storied history.  Mike Cuddy, vice-president of TranSystems Corp and Project Designer, will speak on the recently completed rehabilitation.

Time and Place:  7 pm, Wednesday,  Oct 3

Pennepack Baptist Church

8732 Krewstown Rd 19115