Manayunk, Pennsylvania

     Manayunk is a neighborhood in the northwestern section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located on the banks of the Schuylkill River, it contains the first canal begun in the United States. As I am writing this,  Mayor Nutter, is warning that hurricane Sandy of 2012, will pose flooding problems in this area and that the residents should have sought shelter if they are in known areas that flood.  Update:  for the most part Manayunk dodged the wrath of Sandy.

    I took a trip to Pitman, NJ to visit my son.  After I arrived we wanted to take a ride to some place in New Jersey but when my son suggested visiting Manayunk, I agreed.  Our first stop was at the Manayunk Diner for a good hamburger and my son enjoyed his omelet.

      The parking lot faces a very old stone wall with a railway on the upper level there. In general this area of Philadelphia features stone walls everywhere.  My overwhelming thought was that walls of this type will never be built again.  Of course there will be stone walls in the future but they will be costly and they will lack the character of these walls with the spots of repair.  In fact the housing development behind my house in Jersey features a stone wall.  It seems a bit strange because you think of these stone walls as retaining the earth against a hill and Jersey is so flat that such walls are not needed.  You do not see vintage walls either because in the early history we just did not have access to rock.  We do see some old foundations with Jersey brown stone.  But this new wall near me is made with very regularized stone.  There is some variety but it is a repeated pattern nothing like the totally irregular walls that you find in Philadelphia.  I will have to research it but I am thinking that the Irish were known for their masonry skills and there was a strong presence of Irish in the city.  In fact the road that we took was  "Kelly" Drive.  We even went by the famous boathouse row along the Schuylkill River.  Usually I have viewed Boat House Row from across the water on the Schuylkill Highway or from the old Water Works Restaurant and vintage water utility works. 

 

 

 

 

      We walked around Manayunk and visited Pretzel Park where we found a statue of a pretzel  (later we drove by a statue of a clothespin??). Aside from the vintage stone walls, there are the iron works both decorative and utilitarian underpinnings for bridges and overpasses. So as my son battled traffic and a horrendous traffic jam near City Hall I was enjoying the frequent stalls in the traffic.  I snapped away.  You may think I stopped at the "LOVE" statue but I didn't.  My son who works in Philly nearly everyday did not know the name of every skyscraper.  As we drove by William Penn, high on top of City Hall, we remembered a past visit when we took the old elevator up to the observation deck. When you got out and you looked up, you are kind of like under the giant skirt of his waist coat.  I had to tap into my inner strengths for that excursion because involved two of my phobias:  fear of heights and fear of elevators, especially rickety small slow ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poke weed berries over the canal in Manayunk: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture perfect shop in Manayunk:

 

 

 

 

Jogging next to the historic canal in Manayunk:

 

 

 

 

 

William Penn

 

 

     I think I am older than the the LOVE statue and the Rocky Statue but they both seem to be big draws for Philadelphia tourists.  I got the love statue in reverse---not bad for another drive-by shot.  I got the right side as well but it was blurry but good enough for posting here.

 

 

 

 

      I am ready to give up on being able to provide the readers with a name or location of this fascinating place.  On our way home back to Jersey we stopped at a large of lot with a collection of salvage pieces and other museum quality items. There were vintage ornate gazebos, decorative iron items, and concrete architectural pieces.  Inside there were one of a kind chests, massive and unique furniture pieces, antique Indian fabrics, rugs, decorative concrete heads and so many more surprising artifacts.  I wanted to buy a small 3 inch head for 18 dollars but I passed it up in the end.  Most of the stuff was far out of my budget.  My son might be able to shed light on where we stopped but I haven't contacted him on this.  So I spent a few hours researching on the internet with no luck.  Also on the same lot was a building that I believe was a preview shop.  Possibly the items would later be auctioned off.  It was weird and exciting place to explore.  I felt like we were going to be kicked out.  The dark cavernous building made me the feel that it was off limits because there were no sales people anywhere but other laborers just ignored us. 

 

All along Kelly Drive there were so many sculls or rowing boats there must have been a regatta planned for the weekend but I think "Sandy" had other plans. 

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2FB

 

 

Kelly Drive was shut down due to flooding during hurricane Sandy.

Seems that Philadelphia has more than their share of statues. 

Beautiful church:  St Francis of Xavier---not a bad shot 

as we were driving on the highway:

Riding through Chinatown as we leave the City:



During my research I found this wonderful site.  If you want to learn more about Philadelphia you can not do any better :

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/

More info on St. Francis Xavier Church: 

 http://www.phillychurchproject.com/st-francis-xavier/

 

http://www.thewaterworksrestaurant.com/history/