Events - Event View

Join the Village on the Ridge and East Falls Village in welcoming Alex Bartlett from the Chestnut Hill Conservancy who has dug into the history of Wissahickon from their archives. We’ll learn a bit more about the Lenni Lenape in our area, the milling industry in the Wissahickon Valley, hotels and inns, the Centennial Exposition of 1876 and its effects on the Park, the arrival of the car and the origins of the name “Forbidden Drive,” the arrival of the FOW and the Great Depression and programs associated with the WPA, the “period of stasis” in the park (1950s-1960s), decline, the FOW’s role in park’s care, and the CH Conservancy/ FOW joint easement program. To name a few! Alex will include some new historical images that he has mined from the archives, many of which have not been seen before.

Alex is known to be an engaging speaker. He spent much of his childhood in the Wissahickon Valley, and the occasional hiker or biker may have caught a glimpse of him snooping around an old ruin or long-disused quarry. He earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Earth Sciences from Temple University and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from the University of the Arts. In 2009, he began volunteering in the Archives of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society (now the Chestnut Hill Conservancy); he was hired in the Archives a short time thereafter and is now the Conservancy’s Curator and Archivist.
Location is wheelchair accessible. Please use the wheelchair accessible entrance near the USPS mailbox.