Halloween, October 31, 2023, marks the 88th birthday of Glen Providence Park! Would you help us celebrate Delaware County’s oldest park with a donation to Friends of Glen Providence Park?

Founded as a bird sanctuary and arboretum in 1935, Glen Providence Park remains a 33-acre haven for people and wildlife alike, amidst ongoing development of open space in Media Borough, Kirk Road and throughout the county. We need Glen Providence Park today more than ever.

SInce July 2011, the intrepid volunteers of Friends of Glen Providence Park have been working to preserve and enhance this natural and historic resource that is so accessible to Media and Upper Providence Residents. 

Please, help us continue our activities that benefit the park and the community:

• citizen advocacy for the park land, water and wildlife
• free nature appreciation and education walks
• free and family-friendly Arts in the Park concerts
• citizen science projects such as water studies and Christmas Bird Count
• volunteer historical research, documentation and preservation

As public funding shifts, we need your support more than ever to continue our native tree plantings, trail maintenance and Arts in the Park. If you’ve enjoyed the park, and especially if you’ve participated in a Friends of Glen Providence Park event, please donate today!

George and Eleanor Butler donated the land for Glen Providence Park in the summer of 1935, and work started on October 31, 1935 – making Halloween Glen Providence Park’s birthday! Coincidentally(?), some spooky-strange tales from local folklore take place in and around the park, and it has hosted some spook-tacular Halloween events.

It was the local ghost and witch stories recounted in the early 1900’s by Dr. Anna E. Broomall that led us to discover the rich pre-park history of Glen Providence, from the time it was called Scroggie Valley!  Dr. Broomall was the daughter of Judge John M. Broomall, who had owned the land that is now Glen Providence Park from about 1864 until his death in 1894.  

“Back in the early days of this region before civilization had turned too strong a light on things occult, the neighborhood was peopled with its full quota of goblins and ghosts and witches…” You can read the rest of Dr. Broomall’s telling of the 1700’s story of newlywed ghosts haunting the park, and the 1800’s story of three witch sisters tormenting the local miller, and of their Witches’ Ride in the park.  Both stories are annotated with our historical research and maps.

In the 1980’s, Delaware County Parks & Recreation held frightening Halloween Hauntings in Glen Providence, with Freddy Kruger, a chain saw man, Dracula, and even water creatures in the pond! My favorite newspaper description stated, “After completing the eerie walk, visitors will receive a cup of cider and the director’s assurance that no one will follow them home.” 

Those hauntings were apparently scary enough to help inspire Penncrest grad Gary Dauberman, the horror screenwriter of the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “It”! He spoke about it in interviews, telling the Delaware County Daily Times, “I remember going on haunted walks at Glen Providence Park in Media every Halloween, which helped to foster my love of horror at a very young age. So did driving by the Heilbron Mansion on the school bus every day…”

To honor the 80th Anniversary of Glen Providence Park in 2015, we held a Halloween Birthday celebration at the stage, with Hedgerow Theatre enacting Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, and the park’s Ghost and Witch Stories! It was an enchanting evening, with the audience dressed in costumes, ready to head off for trick-or-treating immediately following the performance. 

Halloween events are just some of the park’s wonderful array of activities and events since it opened in 1935. That tradition of community events, and the elegance of the park’s design and structures built by the Works Progress Administration, are why Glen Providence Park was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places!  What a marvelous history it has had…

Happy 85th Birthday, Glen Providence Park!

And, Happy Halloween!

Click on the links in the article above for photos and much more information!

See the individual events in our Calendar for more information and logistics. All events are free, family-friendly, and open to the public – we hope to see you in the park!

Friends of Glen Providence Park
2020 Schedule of Events

Schedule subject to change – please check back to confirm times, details, and meeting locations.

UPDATE: Covid-19 cancelations and postponements are noted below.

Winter Discovery Walk with Mike Rolli
Sunday, January 26, 1:00-3:00pm
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

Love Your Park Walk with Chris McNichol
Saturday, February 15, 10:00am-12:00pm
Meet at 3rd & West Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

Geology Walk with Charles Randall
Saturday, March 7, 2:00-4:00pm
Meet at 3rd & West Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

CRC Streams Clean-up – POSTPONED
Saturday, April 4, 9:00-10:30am
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain or shine

Spring Bird Walk with Dave Eberly – CANCELED
Saturday, May 9, 8:00-10:00am
Meet at 3rd & Kirk Lane entrance
Rain or shine

Arts in the Park: Kossler Duo – POSTPONED TO JUNE 2021
Saturday, June 27, 5:00-6:30pm
Main entrance
Rain date Sunday, June 28

Arts in the Park: Paul Downie & Friends – POSTPONED TO 2021
Saturday, July 11, 5:00-6:30pm
Main entrance
Rain date Sunday, July 12

Arts in the Park: Danie Ocean – POSTPONED TO 2021
Saturday, August 22, 5:00-6:30pm
Main entrance
Rain date Sunday, August 23

Arts in the Park: Malidelphia – POSTPONED TO 2021
Saturday, September 12, 5:00-6:30pm
Main entrance
Rain date Sunday, September 13

National Public Lands Day – POSTPONED
Saturday, October 3, 9:00–12:00 noon
Location TBD
Rain date Sunday, October 4

Wicked Plants & Ghost Walk with Marcia Tate & Stephanie Gaboriault – POSTPONED TO 2021
Saturday, October 31, time tba — Glen Providence’s 85th Anniversary!
Location tba
Drizzle, snow, or shine

Green Friday Walk with Holly Hoffmann & Aura Lester
Friday, November 27, time tba
Meet at State Street entrance
Drizzle, snow, or shine

Christmas Bird Count
Saturday, December 19, 8:00-10:00am
Meet at 3rd & West Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

And don’t forget the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt held by Media Lions & McCarrin Chiropractic – it’s the park’s longest-running event, held annually since 1954! This year’s date is Saturday, April 4 at 11:00am (sharp!), State Street entrance. – CANCELED

Join us for a late fall history and nature walk in Glen Providence Park! We’ll follow part of the self-guided route from the 1941 Nature Guide as we share historical photos, maps, stories, and descriptions of the glen. Learn about the park’s native shrubs and plants, as we look for wildlife and take in the last of the fall foliage! 

History & Nature Walk

Saturday, November 10*
2:00-4:00pm
Rain date Sunday, November 11
Main entrance, 550 W. State Street, Media

The walk will be led by me (the park history buff) and our native plant expert Marcia Tate.

Logistics:

• Estimated distance: 1-1.5 miles
• Estimated time: 2 hours
• Free!
• Be prepared for stream crossings, steep hills, and uneven (possibly icy or muddy) terrain: wear sturdy walking shoes, bring a hiking pole if you use one, and you never know when you’ll want binoculars!
• If the weather is iffy, we’ll post on our website and facebook by 12:00 noon on Saturday whether we will use the Sunday rain date.

 
* This is a new date. The walk was originally scheduled for Saturday, November 3.

For our 8th National Public Lands Day on Saturday, October 6, we installed wildlife habitat plantings along the 1941 Trail in Glen Providence Park! This year, 25 lovely adults, teens, and kids volunteered a combined 76 hours digging, planting, mulching, installing deer fencing, raking, and watering. Our volunteers were so efficient, they finished planting early, and cleared trash along the trails!

The native trees, shrubs, and woodland plants help to restore the forest, protect the stream, and stabilize the hillside along the 1941 Trail, where several trees fell during storms last winter. In addition to helping control erosion, the plants benefit wildlife by providing habitat and seeds, nuts, fruits, and nectar for mammals, birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. We planted 19 native trees and shrubs, and 34 woodland plants – the complete list is below.

This short trail is named for “The Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park,” a pamphlet from 1941 that leads the visitor on a self-guided tour through the park, starting on this trail. You can view the PDF version of the 1941 Nature Guide, and take its tour!

We have so many to thank for their help with this project… starting with all those wonderful volunteers!

Delaware County Parks & Recreation provided the funding for the plants and delivered the mulch. Delaware County Conservation District delivered their Conservation Planting Trailer full of all of the tools we could need! Garden Influence and Redbud Native Plant Nursery provided invaluable expertise, Garden Influence donated additional woodland plants, and Friends of Glen Providence Park donors funded the deer fencing, posts, food and coffee for volunteers, and other supplies for this project. Neighbors of the park allowed us to run a hose downhill from their house to water the plantings. We are grateful to all of these people for making the plantings possible!

The next time you are on the 1941 Trail, look for these native plants, and check out the photos below – just click on any for a closer look or to scroll through them.

Woodland plants:

Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides – 10
New York Fern, Thelypteris noveboracensis – 2
Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense – 6
Wild Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis – 8
Sweet Cicely, Myrrhis odorata – 2
Blue Wood Aster, Aster cordifolius – 2
Spiderwort, Tradescantia – 2
Blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum – 2

Photos by author, George Tate, & Marcia Tate

As we prepare for our annual fall tree planting this weekend, we are thinking of the loss this spring of the iconic White Oak on the sledding hill in Glen Providence Park. The June 23, 1937 Chester Times announced the first concert in Glen Providence, stating the conductor “has chosen for the orchestra stand a position under a large oak tree where the surroundings in part form a natural amphitheatre.” That majestic White Oak provided shade and beauty for generations of concert audiences and park visitors – and centuries of food and shelter for wildlife!

This year on March 2, that majestic tree fell in a Nor’easter. Based on its diameter, we believe the oak was over 200 years old! We are grateful that Delaware County Parks & Recreation preserved its standing, hollow portion as a natural playhouse. As a part of succession planning for the loss of it and future trees, volunteers planted trees on the sledding hill for Earth Day in April – and we continue the annual native tree plantings that we started in 2012. We hope some of the saplings that we plant grow to be canopy trees that provide shade and beauty for future generations!  

A chronological photo tribute… click on any photo for a closer look, or scroll through them all. We’ll add more photos as we come across them! 

Unless otherwise noted, current-day photos by author

Join us for a geology tour of Glen Providence Park! We are bringing back one of our most popular walks – Charles Randall will explain the geological history of the area, and he’ll put the rocks of the park into the regional picture. To supplement the rocks we can find, he will bring samples of what’s likely to be under the biology.

Geology Walk

Saturday, March 17
10:00-12:00 noon
Entrance at 3rd & West Streets
Rain date Saturday, March 24

Logistics:

• * Please note the location – we are starting at the entrance at Third and West Streets in Media. *
• Be prepared for uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear sturdy shoes that can get wet.
• Free & family-friendly
• If the weather is questionable, we will post on Facebook and our website on Saturday by 9:00am whether we use our rain date (the following Saturday).

This fall, the all-volunteer Media Presbyterian Church Senior Craftsmen beautifully built kiosks for all three entrances to Glen Providence Park! Kiosks were long on our wish list for the park, and now there is a place to post trail maps, park rules, of course park events, and other information about Glen Providence.

Meeting to work on Thursday mornings, the Craftsmen skillfully constructed the kiosks off-site, then assembled and installed them at Glen Providence Park. Thoughtful touches such as artfully rounded corners and cedar shingles make the kiosks a graceful fit to the park’s historical WPA-built entrances. We are incredibly grateful for the Craftsmen’s generous work!

What is this park called?

To our knowledge, Glen Providence Park has not had entrance signs since the original elegant 1930’s carved-letter signs. Over the past several years, we had met people who use the park regularly but do not know what it is called, and others who don’t know about all of its trails, or about the park’s events, history, flora or fauna. It became apparent that it would be helpful to have a place to post information about the park, and we got approval from Delaware County Parks & Recreation to build entrance kiosks.

Senior Craftsmen to the rescue

Dale Snead, one of our regular volunteers for invasive plant removal, is also a member of the Media Presbyterian Church Senior Craftsmen: a wonderful volunteer group that meets weekly to work on construction projects for the community and for those in need. Through Dale, the Craftsmen agreed to take on the project, and from there Ben Curtis led the way with his expert design and planning. Craftsmen including Dale, Ben, Joe, (another) Joe, Ted, Dan, Marty, Andy, Bill, Ed, Frank, and Walt worked on the kiosks through part of the summer and fall.

Thanks to the Senior Craftsmen, now there is a place to post information so that people can be aware of all that Glen Providence Park has to offer. We will be adding carved-letter “Glen Providence Park” signs to the kiosks, in addition to holders for park maps. In combination with the trail posts we installed this spring, the kiosks will help encourage people to explore and appreciate more of the Glen!  

The kiosks are funded by Friends of Glen Providence Park, and the foundations were installed by Delaware County Parks & Recreation. A tremendous thank you to our donors, to County Parks, and to the fantastic Media Presbyterian Church Senior Craftsmen! Did I mention they’re all-volunteer? Here’s more about this remarkable group… and be sure to check out the photos below! 

The Media Presbyterian Church Senior Craftsmen

From the Media Presbyterian Church website: “The Senior Craftsmen is a group of seasoned carpenters from our church who performs a myriad of home repairs and engage in a variety of construction projects that help to benefit the surrounding community and its residents.  They are best known for constructing much-needed wheelchair ramps throughout Media and Chester and their work in churches throughout the city.  Most, if not all, of their work is done at no cost.  The Senior Craftsmen meet every Thursday.  If you are interested in joining these gentlemen, please call the church office at 610.566.3944 x16 and leave a message.  The Senior Craftsmen do not do roofing.”

Throughout November, we have been counting down to Thanksgiving by posting daily thanks on Facebook. There is some overlap with our lists from Thanksgiving in 2012 and 2014, and so much more to add – it is amazing how much there is to be grateful for! Here are those daily posts – these were in no particular order, and it is by no means a complete list!

Day 1: … long-time park supervisor James Stokes, Jr. for his years of care for the park. He started work on October 31, 1935 and continued for at least 25 years, and by all accounts really loved Glen Providence Park. He served as park guard, caretaker, supervisor, and park ranger – personally building picnic tables, preparing for concerts, planting trees & flowers, teaching visitors about the plants & wildlife, and creating the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park!

Day 2: … the local schools that use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom and for service learning, teaching their students a love of nature, science, art, and more. Thank you Media Elementary School, Springton Lake Middle School, Media Providence Friends School, Penncrest High School – and homeschoolers!

Day 3: … Delaware County Parks & Recreation, for resurfacing the historical WPA stage last summer in time for the park’s 80th anniversary celebration, for their support of our events and activities, and for their many years of caretaking and managing their 621 acres (and growing!) of open space for the public.

Day 4: … all that Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association has done since 1970 to protect, conserve, and restore the watersheds throughout its 132 square mile stewardship area! Its initiatives include annual streams cleanups, riparian reforestation, advocacy, education, and stream monitoring. We are honored to receive their Organizational Stewardship Award this year!  

Day 5: … our Nature Walk guides and monthly event leaders who volunteered their time in the past two years: the ever-helpful Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County, Gary Stolz, David Hewitt, Shannon Davidson, Marcia Tate, Stephanie Gaboriault, Kyle Loucks, George Tate, the Media-Upper Providence Free Library, Holly Hoffmann, Aura Lester, and Charles Randall.

Day 6: … Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford, for generously growing and donating native trees and shrubs each year for habitat restoration plantings by other organizations – including for our past four National Public Lands Days!

Day 7: … the Delaware County Institute of Science, an amazing organization that has been all volunteer since 1833.  It has wonderful scientific and historical collections, and is well worth a visit. Its members have been studying Glen Providence Park since before it was a park – a 1928 Chester Times article about the valley indicated that “Naturalists, from all over the country, attending the Delaware County Institute of Science, make a study of it.”  

Day 8: … EllieReed Lewis and Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandchildren of park donors George and Eleanor Butler –  for sharing their recollections from childhood in Glen Providence Park, and for celebrating the park’s 80th anniversary with us last summer!

Day 9: … our Invasive Plant Removal volunteers, who meet most Friday mornings to work in the park. In the past 4 years, they have cleared over 250 packed contractor bags of invasive plants – keeping trails clear, liberating native plants from strangling vines, improving habitat, and beautifying the park.

Day 10: … those who have made our historical research possible, including the Media Historic Archives, the Delaware County Historical Society, and the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library – and Delaware County, PA History for sharing our history-related facebook posts.

Day 11: … the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for their years of involvement in Glen Providence Park going back to at least 1939 – with hikes, cookouts, award ceremonies, meetings, and community service. In the past few years, Brownie Troop #5248 and Minquas District Boy Scouts have volunteered, and Girl Scout Troop #5037 and Pack 503’s Webelos II have had meetings and outings in the park!

Day 12: … our wonderfully generous Concert Sponsors: Media Recreation Board, Media Rotary Foundation, Diego’s Cantina, Seven Stones Café, Shere-e-Punjab Indian Restaurant, Sterling Pig, and Tagine, who made it possible for us to revive the decades-long tradition of free summer concerts in Glen Providence Park.

Day 13: … Media Lions Club and McCarrin Chiropractic, for continuing Glen Providence Park’s longest-running tradition – the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt started in 1954! The Lions have worked since 1917 to fight blindness, and on many other community projects.

Day 14: … the American Chestnut Foundation, for their work to restore this once-majestic native tree, decimated by blight in the early 1900’s. Chestnuts were called the Sequoias of the east, and we know from T. Chalkley Palmer’s 1889 writings that the park’s eastern hill was once “continuously wooded with oaks and chestnuts.” We have found two surviving trees so far!

Day 15:  … all of the volunteers who have spent their free time working for Glen Providence Park through the years – our dedicated committee members, the dozens of people who have helped at our 17 volunteer days, and all those who volunteered in the park before us.

Day 16: … the Pennsylvania Amphibian & Reptile Survey (PARS), for their work to gather data for the study and conservation of our amphibians and reptiles, and for leading 3 Herpetology Walks in Glen Providence Park! We’ve documented 18 species in the park so far…

Day 17: … Samuel L. Smedley, who with great foresight and wisdom in 1927 urged regional planning for open space, and spearheaded the creation of Delaware County Parks & Recreation, which was used as a model nationally for its excellent planning. He personally helped create and plan Glen Providence Park.

Day 18: … all of those who appreciate our efforts to preserve and enhance Glen Providence Park – whether by reading our newsletter and website, attending our concerts and nature walks, or saying a kind word when they see us in the park – and of course our Facebook fans!

Day 19: … the Delaware County Conservation District for their guidance, mini-grants, donations, use of their Conservation Trailer, and support for our native plantings over the past 5 years – helping us to combat streamside erosion, restore habitat, provide food for wildlife, and  beautify the park.

Day 20: … our donors, whose generous support enables us to continue our work to improve the park and plan future concerts, plantings, events, and activities!

Day 21: … the array of wildlife, native plants, and all living things in the park, which with the changing seasons provide something new to discover on every walk in Glen Providence Park.

Day 22: … Hedgerow Theatre, for their enchanting performances at the WPA stage – enacting the park’s historical Newlywed Ghost and Witch Stories for Glen Providence’s 80th anniversary last year, and bringing Shakespeare to the park this summer!

Day 23: … T. Chalkley Palmer, 1860-1934, for writing in loving detail about Scroggie Valley in 1889, enabling us all these years later to read about the geology, landscape, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park as it was in the 1800′s. He also had remarkable environmental insights for his time. What a gift!

Day 24 of Thanks: We are so thankful for George and Eleanor Butler, who with great generosity and foresight in 1935 donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, to be preserved for future generations. There would be no park without them – we are incredibly grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thirty years ago, werewolves, ghouls, and monsters filled Glen Providence Park on October nights for the annual Halloween Haunting. The descriptions in the newspapers are fantastic – my favorite is from 1986: “For 50 cents, the brave of heart can hike a half-mile through [Glen Providence Park] to enjoy being scared by actor Freddy Kruger,… water creatures, a chain-saw man, Dracula and his bride, and more. A magician will entertain those waiting in line along State Street.  After completing the eerie walk, visitors will receive a cup of cider and the director’s assurance that no one will follow them home.”

Delaware County Parks & Recreation held the Haunted Woods in Glen Providence Park from 1981 to at least 1991.  It was quite a production, with dozens of volunteer actors channeling Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, monsters, ghosts, goblins, and of course Freddy Krueger.  A “ghoul usher” led visitors along trails lit with pumpkins, past the entrance and pavilion that had been transformed into macabre scenes, with creatures jumping out from behind trees, under footbridges, and even from the pond! The evening ended with refreshments at a witches’ den.  

Not surprisingly, we have heard this was pretty scary! Based on the comments on our Facebook page when we have shared these descriptions, it would seem that the “swamp man” (in scuba gear!) in the pond made the most memorable impression. In one vivid description, Matthew O. recounted, “I was about 11-13 and somebody in the pond grabs my leg and tries to drag me in the drink. If I didn’t heavily resist I would have gone in for sure. I don’t think the event was regulated for safety.”

A call for volunteers in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1991 – “Volunteer ghouls needed for haunting” – is the latest record we have found of the Halloween Haunting. Much like the past 4th of July fireworks in the park, it would likely be unrealistic to bring back the Halloween Hauntings, due to liability and crowd management concerns. But October will always be special in Glen Providence Park – Halloween is Glen Providence Park’s birthday!

In the spirit of Halloween, you can read the park’s spooky-strange 1700’s Newlywed Ghost Story and 1800’s Witches Ride from local folklore.

Happy 81st Birthday, Glen Providence Park – and Happy Halloween!!!

If you have any photos or memories of the Halloween Hauntings in Glen Providence Park  that you are willing to share, please email me at FriendsoftheGlen [at] gmail [dot] com!

Sources – Philadelphia Inquirer articles:

October 24, 1982
October 23, 1983
October 28, 1983
October 26, 1984
October 19, 1986
October 29, 1987
October 20, 1988
October 14, 1990
October 10, 1991