Since Glen Providence Park was established as a bird sanctuary and arboretum in 1935, Girl and Boy Scouts have been a part of its narrative! The day after work began on the park, a November 1, 1935 article in the Chester Times invited the reader to “Come with your bird glasses, your flower guides, your tree books. Bring the school children and scout groups, and let Nature teach them her ancient lessons.” The Scouts heeded that call, with accounts of Girl and Boy Scouts from across Delaware County visiting the park since the 1930’s.

Articles through the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s recount how Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Brownies, and Cub Scouts held picnics, cookouts, meetings, and ceremonies in the park, including new troop investitures and “a court of awards.” In September 1939, a Rutledge Cub pack had a meeting where “An interesting nature program was presented, which included a spirited contest on trees”(!). That October, a Lansdowne Girl Scout troop took a field trip to the “Bird Sanctuary.” 

Volunteerism

In addition to the many meetings and activities, the Scouts have a record of volunteerism in Glen Providence Park. In 1970, a dozen Upper Providence Boy Scouts conducted a major cleanup behind what was then Skelly contracting and Media Laundry, above the Mountain Laurel Trail – they “piled up enough trash for several truckloads in the park below the guardhouse.” In 1971, as part of a Boy Scout “Conservation Good Turn” program, Minquas District Boy Scouts cleaned up “creeks, streams, and roadways,” in parks including Glen Providence. “The Anti-Litter Day campaign” had the administrative support of the newly formed Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association. This was a predecessor of CRC’s Annual Streams Cleanup, which is in its 18th year, and still involves many Scouts troops!

In 2005, Kathryn Lenahan from Girl Scout Troop 907 took on an individual project that honored the intent of the park’s dedication as a bird sanctuary. A Penncrest High School graduating senior, she earned a Girl Scouts Gold Award for “designing and building a bird blind for people to enjoy birdlife.” Sadly the bird blind (a small shelter from which you can observe wildlife) near the Kirk Lane entrance was destroyed several years ago, possibly by a fallen limb. We marked its approximate location on our annotated trail map.

It is a possibility that in the 1930’s or 1940’s, the Scouts may have planted a number of trees in the park. We have not found confirmation of this, but we know that the Norway Spruce trees that cover much of the western hill were planted, seemingly since 1935, and that Boy Scouts had planted White Pines along nearby Ridley Creek Road around 1932. We would love to learn more about the Norway Spruce planting!

There is one Norway Spruce in the park that we know was planted by Cub Scouts. Sadly, the tree was planted in 1991 in memory of a Cub Scout from Pack 642.

Scouts today

The involvement of Scouts in the park continues. In 2012 and 2013, we attended a meeting in the park with 3rd grade Brownie Troop 5248 to talk about the Scouts’ history in the park, and the plants and wildlife – then they helped us with a park cleanup and with plantings around the stage! In 2014, the Minquas District Boy Scouts held a spring cleanup in the park with Media Rotary and Penncrest Interact. And just this month, we participated in a meeting in the park with 6th grade Girl Scout Troop 5037 to talk about the park and environmental stewardship, and about ideas for their Silver Award projects next year.

In honor of all that the Scouts have done in the park through the years, on our September 2011 annotated trail map, we nicknamed the park trail along Kirk Lane the Scouts Loop!

If anyone has more information about, or photos of, Scouts and their projects in the park, please contact us via email (using the Contact Us link) or by leaving a comment on this page.

Sources

Chester Times & Daily Times articles researched on the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library:

Chester Times:
Club Leaders See New County Park, November 1, 1935
Rutledge Cub Pack No. 7, September 27, 1939
October Days in Lansdowne, October 14, 1939
Rutledge, May 7, 1949
Eight Brownies Get Their ‘Wings’, June 10, 1950
18 Girl Scouts Attend Cookout, October 27, 1950
Media Girl Scouts, October 25, 1951
Ridley Park WSCS Plans Luncheon, June 6, 1955
Troop Enjoys Wiener Roast, October 31, 1957

Daily Times:
Girl Scouts Go Camping, April 16, 1960
Leaders of Patrols Selected, October 27, 1964
Boy Scouts help clean up Glen Providence Park area, December 1, 1970
Scouts to collect litter, June 4, 1971

And:

RTM Honors Girl Scout Gold Award Winner, County Press, May 31, 2005

Join us as we celebrate the third year of Friends of Glen Providence Park!  It’s our 3rd Anniversary Picnic, and this year we will celebrate at the picnic area on the sledding hill, under the centuries-old White Oak tree. Bring your stories and memories about the park, and join us for cake, lawn games, and fun!
 

Picnic in the Park!

Saturday, July 12
12:00 noon – 1:30pm
Sledding hill at main entrance
Rain date Sunday, July 13
 
We’ve been busy since our first meeting at Seven Stones Café on July 14, 2011 – with stewardship, advocacy, citizen science and historical research, plus 10 volunteer events, 22 nature walks and 5 concerts! So once a year, we like to kick back for an anniversary celebration, honoring a decades-long tradition of picnics in Glen Providence Park.
 
We’ll provide:

• Watermelon or other in-season fruit from Media Farmer’s Market
• Water balloons and some lawn games
• Information about the park and upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, historical photos, and more to peruse
• Anniversary cake at 1:00!

 
More logistics:

• We ask that you RSVP, so we know how much cake to order! Just email us at FriendsoftheGlen[AT]gmail.com.
• If the weather is questionable, a rain date decision will be posted by 10:00am that Saturday.

 
What to bring?

• At past picnics, people jumped rope and played bocce, Frisbee, and other lawn games – so be creative!
• Pack a picnic basket with a lunch, and if you’d like, a dish to share.
• A picnic blanket, and perhaps bug spray.
• Your stories and memories about the park!

 
To add this event to your favorite calendar program (iCal, Outlook, Google, etc.), view the event listing on our calendar.

So on July 13, over 20 volunteers and friends new and old gathered for a relaxing picnic on the lovely shaded lawn by the Kirk Lane entrance.  We found it to be an beautiful spot for frisbee, bocce or other activities- kids discovered a toadlet and searched for ripe wineberries to eat! While it was a hot and humid day, it felt remarkably cooler in the natural air conditioning provided by the deep shade of the mature trees. Thank you to Delaware County Parks & Recreation for adding two picnic tables to this lovely spot!

The picnic was a nice way to relax after our busy first two years! Our Annual Report describes our activities through 2012, and in 2013 we have continued with volunteer days, nature walks, historical research, citizen science, documenting plants and wildlife, and advocacy…. and we have added to our stewardship efforts with regular invasive plant removal, documenting the 1.1 Acre dam construction area, and we expanded from our first concert into a Summer Concert Series!

It has been an exciting two years- we look forward to many more!

Join us as we celebrate the second year of Friends of Glen Providence Park!  It is our 2nd Anniversary Picnic, and this year we will celebrate on the lawn on the Upper Providence side of the park.  The Kirk Lane entrance is flanked by these elegant stone walls, likely built by the WPA in 1935-1937 when the park was established. Picnics are a longstanding tradition in Glen Providence Park- so come kick back and have fun!

Picnic in the Park!

Saturday, July 13
12:00 noon
Kirk Lane entrance, Glen Providence Park
Rain date Sunday, July 14

 UPDATE: The forecast is a little kooky, but weather.com shows 0% chance of rain until 4pm- so we’ll stick with our scheduled date of Saturday, July 13!  

Glen Providence Park has been a popular picnic spot throughout its 77 year history, and the picnic area off of Kirk Lane was a definite destination.  Chester Times articles in July 1948 refer to the shaded lawn in Upper Providence as the “Glen Providence roadside rest on Kirk Lane”(!) The articles indicate that there were three picnic tables “beneath the lovely old oak trees. The view commanded from the spot is very lovely over the western hills… Visitors come from many points to visit Glen Providence which is a beautiful spot.”  The park guard James Stokes had personally made the first picnic table!

We would like to thank Delaware County Parks & Recreation for recently adding two picnic tables, for a current total of four for this area. It’s still a lovely spot for a picnic!

What to bring?

– At last year’s picnic, people were jumping rope on the Sledding Hill– so be creative!

– Pack a picnic basket with a lunch, and if you’d like, a dish to share.

– A picnic blanket, and perhaps bug spray

– We will provide watermelon or other local fruit from the Media Farmers Market.

– Do bring your stories and memories about the park!

To add this event to your favorite calendar program (iCal, Outlook, Google, etc.), view the event listing on our calendar.

It was yet another fun event in Glen Providence Park on Saturday- with friends, conversation, brook stomping,  jumping rope(!), and of course food!  We developed a new appreciation for the stately White Oak tree on the Sledding Hill– its deep shade provided natural air conditioning for the surrounding picnic tables.   It was lovely and relaxing- we can see why Glen Providence Park has been a popular picnic spot for decades!

There was a wide age range, from 2 year olds to an 80 year old who told of a childhood sledding injury in the park!  The kids were irresistibly drawn to the pond and stream, but they returned for refreshing water ice, popsicles, and delicious watermelon from the Media Farmers Market.  We also had peach pie made from Farmers Market peaches, but we didn’t have a pie-eating contest… this year.

Several people perused our album of historical photographs and articles about the park, leading to talk of local history, including of the Scroggie Estate.  We discussed possible volunteer projects, and admired the work of Delaware County Parks & Recreation- they are reinstalling electricity to the stage, and they keep the Sledding Hill so nicely mowed.

The young, and young at heart, took up jumping rope!  There were even attempts at double dutch- using 2 jump ropes simultaneously. Now that is a park activity that hadn’t occurred to me!

What a nice way to celebrate our first anniversary– thank you to the new and old Friends of the park who attended!

As anyone who has been on a bird or nature walk with naturalist Tom Reeves knows, he is a wealth of interesting information about native plants and wildlife (especially birds!).  He has been a respected and incredibly generous volunteer and nature guide for decades, including 32 years with John Heinz Wildlife Refuge, 20 years with Tyler Arboretum, and over 12 years with CRC Watersheds Association!  And now we are fortunate to have  him lead a walk for us…

Nature Walk with Tom Reeves

Saturday, August 4
8:30-10:00am
Main entrance, Glen Providence Park

And just where did Tom get his start as a naturalist?  In Glen Providence Park!  When Tom attended the Highland Avenue School in Lansdowne, his fourth grade teacher Miss Drayton had bird pictures displayed around her classroom, and taught her class about birds.  When it was time to go for a bird walk, the class took a Red Arrow bus to… Glen Providence Park!  

They did not use binoculars, but Tom still remembers seeing his first American Goldfinch that day, and watching its undulating flight- he says that is the moment he became a birder!  They saw 15 to 20 bird species on that bird walk, including Northern Cardinal and American Robin.  It was almost a whole day field trip, and included a picnic lunch in the park.  It seems fitting that Glen Providence Park played a role in inspiring Tom’s life-long interest in birds and nature, as George and Eleanor Butler donated the park to be a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum.

Join us as we welcome Tom back to the park where it all started!

Bring binoculars if you have them, hiking poles if you use them, a camera if you’d like, and your curiosity!

To add this event to your favorite calendar program (iCal, Outlook, Google, etc.), view the event listing on our calendar.

Join us as we celebrate the first year of Friends of Glen Providence Park… with a picnic!  We can’t think of of a more appropriate way to celebrate- picnics are a longstanding tradition in Glen Providence Park.  So come join us- bring your stories and memories about the park, and kick back and have fun!

Picnic in the Park!

Saturday, July 28
11:00am-1:00pm
Sledding Hill, Glen Providence Park
Rain date Sunday, July 29

Glen Providence Park has been a popular picnic spot throughout its 76 year history.  In the 1940’s, the park guard James Stokes built picnic tables for the park.  In the 1950’s “members of several fraternities from the University of Pennsylvania enjoyed supper” in the park.   A mid-century Red Arrow Trolley brochure includes a photograph of the sledding hill and suggests, “Pack a picnic basket and take the family to Glen Providence Park, end of Media Line, for a refreshing day.”

In August 1966 there was a “Melon Melee”, with wheelbarrow loads of watermelon “consumed by 200 boys and girls (and some ducks) at the annual picnic at Media’s Glen Providence Park.” Playground director Thomas R. Walters said the children “ate them until I thought watermelon would come out of their ears.” They also had a pie-eating contest!

So pack a picnic basket!  Bring a lunch, and if you’d like, a dish to share.  It might not be a bad idea to bring a picnic blanket, in case we run out of tables.  We will provide popsicles, water ice, and watermelon, of course!  Who knows, maybe it will be our first Annual Picnic- and for next year, we could stage the return of the pie-eating contest…

To add this event to your favorite calendar program (iCal, Outlook, Google, etc.), view the event listing on our calendar.

This postcard shows the old Park Guard House to the left, and a picnic table (possibly built by the Park Guard) under a tree to the right.  It’s still a great hillside for a picnic, with several modern picnic tables!

Glen Providence Plaza 1930's or 1940's postcard

When Mr. and Mrs. George Butler donated the land for Glen Providence Park in 1935, it was the first park in Delaware County.  Dedicated as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, this park has hosted an amazing array of events and activities in its 76 years, not to mention the habitat it provides for plants and wildlife!

Long before summer concerts in Rose Tree Park, Glen Providence Park had incredibly popular outdoor concerts, from 1937 through the 1970’s.  And the 4th of July fireworks that were held annually from 1954 to 1986 drew crowds in the thousands!

Events were not restricted to summer- the Halloween Haunted Woods in the 1980’s included a “swamp man” in the pond!  In winter, ice skating at the pond was enhanced with a cabin for warmth and lights around the pond for nighttime skating.  And generations have enjoyed the spectacular sledding hill at the main entrance!

Easter sunrise services were held in the park through the 1940’s.  Easter also heralds the longest running event in Glen Providence Park- the Annual Egg Hunt started in 1954!  Other events in the park’s past include fishing derbies, pie eating contests, even picnics for University of Pennsylvania fraternities.

The natural environment of the park is enjoyed year-round by hikers, bird watchers, dog walkers, and children.  From the park’s beginning through the present day, school classes have visited the park to study nature.  Until at least 1970 there was a park guard, whose role was part caretaker and part park ranger, helping visitors identify plants and wildlife.

Glen Providence Park was the pride of the county in its early decades.  Due to the elegance of its plan and its original structures, in 2002 it was determined to be eligible for the National Registry of Historic Places!

Yet in all its 76 years, Glen Providence Park is perhaps the most relevant today.  With concerns about gas prices, the economy, health, and wildlife habitat, a walk through this park provides a free family outing within walking distance of thousands of local residents.  Exercise and stress relief? They’re unavoidable while exploring this beautiful park.   Its land provides a haven for an array of wildlife and native plants.  Glen Providence Park could not be more valuable.

The dedication at the park’s main entrance ends with, “A gift of land is a gift eternal”.  What an incredible gift it is!

Our Letter to the Editor in September 2011

By Stephanie Gaboriault