I’m a sucker for history. Williamsburg, VA is my favorite place to visit (next to Philly of course), and I can easily get lost for hours in a good historical novel (Michener anyone?). So I fully expected that the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center would satisfy my thirst for nostalgia.
But what I didn’t expect is that this National Historic Landmark is all things Philadelphia—without the soft pretzels.
Inside is a marvel of invention and progress—from 1815 to today. Standing in the pump room next to a huge pipe, I marveled at the engineers who dreamed up technologies to pump water from the Schuylkill to a reservoir atop Faire Mount—where the Art Museum sits today.
Not to be outdone, today’s engineers have created the Fishway, a sort of underwater maze to guide fish upstream—with streaming live video at the Interpretive Center.
All of this technology is housed in a stately federal house on gorgeous grounds. It’s no wonder that this was an international tourist attraction in its heyday. What caught my fancy was a whimsical sculpture—a woman whose arm starts as water, and who seems to be presiding over the activity far below.
And there was plenty of it: a wedding party posing against the scenic backdrop, joggers, and a young teen fishing in solitude.
Art and architecture, technology and nature, tourists and neighbors—I loved finding the essence of Philadelphia in one place in two hours. And the best surprise—parking was plentiful, and free.
- by Beverly Volpe
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