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Local Interest
Fairmount Park
Follows the Schuylkill River from 22nd Street to City Line
Avenue
Fairmount Park was chosen as the site
of the Centennial Exposition of 1876, and several buildings
from that fair still stand, such as Memorial Hall honoring
the soldiers of the Revolution. One of the world's largest
landscaped municipal parks, Fairmount Park's four thousand
acres contain several million trees (with cherry blossoms
to rival the Potomac); picnic areas; tennis courts; miles
of bicycle paths; bridle paths; an azalea garden; statues
and monuments; the zoo; Boathouse Row; Robin Hood Dell; and
the Mann Music Center.
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The Philadelphia Zoo
3400 W. Girard Avenue, 215-243-1100
America's first zoo has over 1700 exotic
mammals, birds and reptiles. There is a special hummingbird
house where birds live in a tropical setting, the country's
first white lions, and the only giant otters. Located on 42
acres of Victorian gardens, the zoo exhibits the only blue-eyed
lemurs in America, features the country's first children's
zoo, and a monorail for aerial tours.
Open daily, except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day |
Eastern State Penitentiary
Fairmount Avenue and 20th Street
In 1829, Eastern State Penitentiary became
the most expensive building in the young United States. An
estimated 300 prisons have been based on the Penitentiary's
radial floor plan. America's most notorious criminals were
incarcerated within the Penitentiary's sky-lit cells, including
Al Capone. Eastern State Penitentiary was abandoned in 1971
after 142 years of consecutive use. The massive compound presents
an eerie mood with its deteriorating cell blocks and empty
guard towers.
Open 10am to 5pm. Last tour: 4pm.
June, July and August: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and Sunday
May, September and October: Saturday and Sunday
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University City
West Philadelphia just across the Schuylkill River from Center
City
University City is the site of Drexel
University and the University of Pennsylvania, where the world's
first computer ENIAC was created. These academic institutions
provide the intellectual scene for education, arts and culture.
On Penn's campus is the Fisher Fine Arts Library and College
Hall, Penn's oldest building. At 33rd and Spruce Street is
the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
designed in 1895. The museum has numerous galleries, including
Egyptian mummies and other artifacts from the ancient world.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, a modern art exhibition
space, was the first U.S. museum to display Andy Warhol.
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Morris Arboretum
100 Northwestern Avenue between Stenton and Germantown Avenues,
215-247-5882
Morris Arboretum is Pennsylvania's official
arboretum, a 92-acre landscape featuring a swan lake, a rose
garden and Victorian fernery. The Morris Arboretum of the
University of Pennsylvania began in 1887 as the summer home
of John and Lydia Morris. The I.P. Morris Company, an iron-manufacturing
firm, was a source of the Quaker family's wealth. The land
Morris purchased in Chestnut Hill had poor soil, but with
hard work and care the Morris family surrounded their home
with a landscape and plant collection devoted to knowledge.
They laid plans for a school and laboratory devoted to horticulture
and botany that became the Morris Arboretum in 1932. Listed
on The National Register of Historic Places, it is an interdisciplinary
resource center for the University.
Open daily 10am - 4pm |
BARTRAMS GARDENS
http://www.bartramsgarden.org/
54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard, 215 729-5281
Bartram's Garden is America's oldest living
botanical garden and an 18th century homestead with the historic
botanical garden of American native plants, surrounded by
a wildflower meadow, majestic trees, a river trail, and wetlands.
In the mid 1700's, John Bartram was a Quaker farmer who was
inspired by a daisy's simplicity and beauty to spend the rest
of his life exploring and collecting native flora and fauna.
His legacy is 44 acres of native American plants.
The Historic Garden is open daily 10am - 5pm and is closed
all major holidays.
The Bartram House is open for tours March through December,
Tuesday through Sunday at 12:10pm, 1:10pm, 2:10pm and 3:10pm.
Closed in January and February. |
Camden's Delaware River Waterfront
Riverside Drive
 The
New Jersey State Aquarium is located in Camden, minutes away
from Philadelphia's historic district and Penn's Landing by
ferry, car, or public transportation. The Aquarium's 760,000-gallon
open ocean tank is the third largest tank in the country and
is home to sharks, giant stingrays, sea turtles and over 1,400
other aquatic animals.
The Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Centre represents
a revolution in amphitheater technology. The facility serves
as a 25,000 capacity outdoor lawn amphitheater during the
summer months with state-of-the-art computerized sound enhancement
and spectacular views of the Philadelphia skyline and Ben
Franklin Bridge. The Centre converts to a climate-controlled,
flexible-capacity theatre for 1,600 to 7,000. The Centre sits
adjacent to the New Jersey State Aquarium on 14 acres along
the Delaware River and is convenient to mass transportation.
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