Since it was created by the WPA in 1936 for fishing and skating, the pond in Glen Providence Park has seen its fair share of fishing, from family outings to years of fishing contests! Early active involvement by the environmental organization Izaac Walton League gave way to activities led by other community groups, with fishing programs and rodeos for boys and girls, field trips, and fishing lessons. The pond was listed in the Fishing Directory of Delaware County, and was stocked with impressive quantities of fish for decades.  

Waders Beware!

Ten pairs of largemouth bass that were introduced as brood fish got the “rearing pond” off to a start a little more exciting than intended, as recounted in the August 1937 issue of Pennsylvania Angler magazine: “The bass were on the nests and everything was going lovely when a park authority gave Waltonian Phil Platt a hurry call on the ‘phone. It seems that a lad was wading or something like that and his foot came rather close to a bass over its nest. The fish struck so viciously that it drew blood.” Fortunately that did not deter hundreds of children from participating each year in the County’s fishing program!

Junior Fishing Project

There were fishing programs for children under 16 (the fishing license age) from at least 1940 to 1967, so that youths could “enjoy the pasttime of fishing.” In the County’s “Junior Fishing Project” in the 1940’s, each boy and girl would register at the park guard house: “Upon registration, the child is given a tag, and these tags, issued free of charge, permit the youngster to fish from May to October.” Fishing was permitted on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with daily catch limits, and a requirement that all hooks be barbless.

The fishing program was well organized by Delaware County Parks & Recreation – park guards tracked registrations, and the sizes and totals of  fish caught, with prizes awarded at the end of the season for the largest fish.  In the summer of 1941, “There were 282 registrations throughout the summer of children under 16 years of age. These youngsters proved themselves worthy Izaak Waltonians when a record of the total fish caught was received from Mr. Stokes, guard at Glen Providence Park, as follows: 662 sunfish, 19 perch, 4 bass.” A 17-pound bass was caught in 1940, and in 1945, “Stokes said catfish 10 to 12 inches long having been reported and carp up to 17 inches. Bass are running from 12 to 20 inches long.”

Stocking the pond

All this fishing was sustained by some impressive stocking of the pond with various fish through the years, often by the thousands. Perch, bass, sunfish, carp, catfish, and bullheads were stocked in the 1940’s; and blue gills, largemouth bass, and catfish in the 1960’s.

After stocking the pond with 4,000 catfish, bullheads, and carp in 1942, the County offered a recipe to make use of them: “Carp make good eating, too, park board authorities say. But, they warn, place six to eight potatoes in the same pan, smack up against the fish. Bake until done and then, above all things, discard the potatoes. That’s because the potatoes absorb the objectionable taste and odor. If the carp is prepared in this suggested manner, they say, the carp will easily pass for a fresh Spanish mackerel.”

As with most events and activities in the park’s past, different community organizations contributed to sustaining fishing through the years. In addition to Delaware County Parks & Recreation, those who stocked the pond included the Izaac Walton League in the early 1940’s, the Field and Stream Club in 1949, and Delco Anglers and Conservationists in the 1960’s. In 1950, 4,000 Bluegills were donated by the federal government! In 1963, the Media Jaycees, who were so involved in the park for years through running the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt and the July 4 Fireworks & Festivities, led a fishing expedition for children of Elwyn School: “17 boys caught 35 fish in the morning at Glen Providence Park.”

Fishing Rodeos

After forming as an organization in 1961, Delco Anglers and Conservationists were active in Glen Providence in the 1960’s. They transplanted over 200 Bluegills and 65 Largemouth bass into the pond in 1963. Then in 1965, they held a fishing rodeo for boys and girls up to 15 years old, with more than 100 contestants from 10 communities. Wonderfully, it was a four year old girl who caught more fish than any other contestant in the rodeo! Her well-deserved prize was “a spanking new rod and reed almost twice as tall as she is.”

The Delco Anglers held the “Annual Fishing Rodeo” for at least two more years. The most recent article I found specific to fishing in the park was from 1968, when Glen Providence was one of 4 locations where 2,500 catfish were released: “The whiskered gents have been released in four of the local lakes for your fishing pleasure.”

Fishing today

We don’t have records of fishing at the park in the 1970’s, but we know the pond had virtually dried up by the early 1980’s – when it was revitalized and restocked with frogs, as recounted in A WPA Pond. The pond was likely restocked with fish as well. There are also fish in Broomall’s Run, which feeds the pond, making that another source of fish. 

While there are no longer fishing programs or rodeos, fishing at the pond continues today. Two years ago we discovered fly fishing lessons in the park, run by Delco Manning Trout Unlimited and Sporting Gentleman – when it was located in Media Borough, 2 blocks from the park. We also come across individuals and families “enjoying the pastime of fishing.”

The fish mentioned throughout the newspaper articles are listed as: bass, Largemouth bass, sunfish, Bluegill (sunfish), perch, carp, catfish, and Bullhead (catfish). The fish we have photographed in the past 5 years are: Pumpkinseed and Bluegill sunfish, Bullhead catfish, Common carp, Largemouth bass, and unidentified minnows. If you have more to add to that, let us know – we’ll create a Park Fish List to add to our species lists of the park’s birds, trees, and reptiles & amphibians!

Do you have stories, memories, or photos from fishing in Glen Providence Park, or species to add to those listed? Please email us at FriendsoftheGlen [at] gmail [dot] com.

Read some more details from early articles, and see that four year old fishing champion(!) and photos of the park’s fish, in the gallery below. Sources listed after the gallery.

Sources:

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

Pennsylvania Angler Magazine:
Waders Beware!, August 1937
Successful Season at Junior Project, January 1941

Chester Times:
Thousands Enjoy Relief from Heat in County Parks, July 25, 1940
County’s Park System Program, January 31, 1941
Sports Shorts, May 14, 1941
Fishing Project for Young Folks, May 29, 1941
4000 Fish for Lake in Park, September 2, 1942
Glen Providence, On Edge of Media, Is Bird Haven, July 22, 1944
Glen Providence Fishing Contest To Start July 1, June 29, 1945
Glen Providence Park One of Scenic Spots in County, October 24, 1949
Glen Providence Gets 4000 Blue Gills, November 2, 1950
Glen Providence Is Interesting Spot, May 1, 1951???

Delaware County Daily Times:
Ernie’s Almanac, Ernie Trosino, September 19, 1963
Middletown Jaycees Aid Polio Clinic, October 9, 1963
Ernie’s Almanac, Ernie Trosino, September 2, 1965
Little Girl’s Fish Story Is No Fabulous Fiction, But Fact, September 18, 1965
Ernie’s Almanac, Ernie Trosino, September 15, 1966
Fishing Rodeo Is Scheduled, August 23, 1967
Ernie’s Almanac, Ernie Trosino, April 15, 1968

Additional sources cited in A WPA Pond.

Thank you to Brian Vadino of the Delaware County Conservation District, and Art at the pond, for their assistance with some of the fish ID’s.

Many Media-area residents have memories of the decades of July 4th festivities and fireworks displays in Glen Providence Park! Annual July 4th fireworks spanned 35 years, from 1952 to 1986. The fireworks drew crowds in the thousands, with 10,000 estimated in 1958! July 4th celebrations included contests, concerts, Revolutionary battle reenactments(!), and movies. Chester Times and Daily Times articles track the evolution of these festivities in the park.

1950 Centennial Celebration

The first instance we could find of fireworks in Glen Providence was not for July 4th, but for the exuberant week-long Media Borough Centennial celebrations in June 1950, attended by Governor James H. Duff! On Monday, June 5, that day’s “motorcade parade” route ended at Glen Providence, where the US Air Force Band played and the Governor spoke – all followed by the  “brilliant spectacle of aerial fireworks” in the park.

There are at least two other times when Glen Providence Park hosted fireworks for non-July 4th festivities – for “Media Week” in August 1951, and “Pennsylvania Week” in October 1954. There seems to have been a lot of civic pride in the 1950’s!

1955 fireworks in Chester Times

Start of a Tradition

The first July 4th fireworks in the park were in 1952, as part of quite a celebration! After a musical program with singing, dancing, and instrumental and baton twirling competitions(!), “In the evening the entire community will come together in a gigantic evening music festival, which will feature a motion picture and a fireworks display that will equal the aerial beauty of the Media Centennial fireworks.”

It is unclear whether there were fireworks in 1953, but by 1954 an annual tradition had begun, with fireworks held most years until the last fireworks in the park in 1986. Early fireworks were sponsored by the Media Businessmen’s Association, then were abandoned in 1961. In 1962, the tradition was reinitiated by the Media Junior Chamber of Commerce (later called the Media Jaycees), until at least 1974. The Jaycees also ran the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt in Glen Providence Park for over 30 years, from 1954 to around 1989!

Concerts & Kids

Most years, fireworks were preceded by concerts at the historical stage in the Glen Providence Park. Performers included the Media High School Band, Elwyn School Band, Fawns all-girl drum and bugle corps, barbershop quartets, Delco-Aires, Delco-Ordinators, and Haverfordians. In 1970, the Jaycees shook things ups with “a two-hour open-air “rock” band festival preceding the fireworks” featuring The Final Assembly and The Brass Menagerie.

Years of firemen’s parades in Media preceded the concerts, and there were other activities and free ice cream for children at the celebrations in Glen Providence. As described in 1971, “The Jaycees will fill a gallon jug with beans… Girls and boys will be asked to judge how many beans are in the jug and during the evening two bicycles will be awarded.”  Member Jaycees would also distribute American flags to children in the park.

Redcoats in the Park?!

The most unique pre-fireworks event in Glen Providence was a mock Revolutionary battle  in 1972! “The Battle Between the Redcoats and the Patriots” was enacted by Moody’s Militia, a Delaware County historical group.  “In Tuesday’s battle, the British will come from the left side of the pond in the park… They will attempt to capture an artillery piece held by American forces. The artillerymen, resplendent in gold braid and yellow all over their coats, will get help from the infantry which will try an encirclement movement, popping from behind trees and brush. Muskets will fire blank charges of black powder, and cries and shouts of the participants will be realistic.”  This was followed by a craft show in the park, then folk singing before the fireworks!   

Paring down the festivities

With all the side events, the fireworks remained the central element of July 4th celebrations. In 1974, the Jaycees reported, “Because we are strapped for money, our annual gala… has been trimmed to the bare essentials.” The “main essential” was the fireworks, “which annually draws 7,000 to 8,000 persons at dusk to Glen Providence Park.” Preserving the patriotic intent of the event, the Jaycees also budgeted for 2,000 free American flags for the crowd. There would, however, be no concert or parade. Sometime after 1974, Media Borough took over the annual fireworks, and aside from music and dancing in 1976 for the Bicentennial, it is unclear whether there were more July 4th concerts.

In a sad chapter in the annual fireworks, there were fights after the fireworks in 1972, 1973 and 1974, with the 1974 fights requiring a response by 50 police officers from eight departments. Fortunately this did not end the annual fireworks, which continued for another twelve years.

The end of a decades-long tradition

In two 1987 articles, the Philadelphia Inquirer documented the decision by Media Borough and Delaware County to cancel the annual fireworks, due to “crowd control problems in 1986,” safety concerns, and liability insurance.

“Media Fire Chief James Jefferies said that as other communities, such as Springfield and Marple Townships, eliminated their firework displays, the crowds in Media increased. ‘Last time people were actually sitting on State Street,’ Jefferies said. ‘There just would not have been a way for the police to get into the park to assist anyone and to get someone out of the park. You could not even form a lane on State Street.’”

There had also been an accident in 1986 where a man sustained second-degree burns to his leg, and was treated at Riddle Memorial Hospital. Delaware County Fire Marshal George T. Lewis Jr. indicated that “The people watching the fireworks at Glen Providence Park were within 50 feet of the display,” while the borough’s insurance required watchers to be seated at least 600 feet from the fireworks display – which would mean the watchers would have had to be seated outside the park, no closer than Lemon Street.

The end of the fireworks “also marked the end of a long tradition involving the Valenti family and Media. John Valenti, who came to Media in 1911, and later his son, Robert, were responsible for many years of fireworks displays in the borough” – John Valenti was listed among members of the fireworks committee in 1954. It was reported that in 1987, Robert Valenti went on to set off fireworks for Lansdowne.

The July 4th fireworks in Glen Providence Park had an amazing run, but  it is hard now to imagine thousands of people in the park, and it is certainly understandable why they ended! As there seems little chance of fireworks returning to the park, the annual July 4th fireworks will remain an exciting chapter in Glen Providence Park’s history.

In all of the articles about fireworks in the park, we only found one photograph from 1955! If you have any photos of the July 4th fireworks and festivities that you are willing to share, please email me at FriendsoftheGlen [at] gmail [dot] com.

Sources:

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

Chester Times:
Centennial Program, June 2, 1950
Media Crowded, June 5, 1950
Media Holds Open House, August 16, 1951
Evening Festival, July 3, 1952
Media Reveals Program for July 4 Affair, May 25, 1954
Media BMA Ups Cost of July 4 Celebration, June 8, 1954
Parade, October 13, 1954
Media’s July 4 Plans Approved, May 24, 1955
Fireworks Sparkle at July 4th Fete, July 5, 1955
7 Fireworks Displays Set, July 3, 1956
Media Plans Gala 4th Celebration; Fireworks to Close Day’s Events, June 26, 1958
10,000 Watch Media Show, July 5, 1958
Media Plans All-Day July 4th Celebration, June 18, 1959

Daily Times:
Parade to Feature Celebration, June 25, 1960
Fancy Fourth Planned, June 30, 1962
County Marks Holiday, July 3, 1963
Fireworks To Be Seen, July 3, 1964
Fireworks Displays, July 3, 1965
Media July 4 Plans Announced, July 1, 1966
Community Fireworks Shows Listed, July 3, 1968
11 Areas Schedule Fireworks, July 3, 1969
County Communities Schedule July 4 Programs, July 3, 1970
Countians to help Nation Mark Birthday, July 3, 1971
Moody’s Militia to Battle in Media, July 1, 1972
Police say 42,000 watched fireworks displays in county, July 5, 1972
Media, July 3, 1974
Street fights follow fireworks in Media, July 5, 1974
4 arrested following Media fights, July 6, 1974
Great weather for fireworks, July 4, 1975
Media to note Bicen Saturday, July 9, 1976
Media, July 1, 1977

Philadelphia Inquirer on Philly.com:
Annual Fireworks Canceled; Problems with ‘86 Crowd Cited, June 21, 1987
Accident Halts Fireworks Displays in Media, July 2, 1987

One of the most beloved features of the Glen Providence Park is the man-made pond at its center – created 80 years ago for fishing and skating! Like the other original park structures and trails, it was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era jobs program – which is part of what made the park eligible for the National Register of Historic Places!

Creating a pond

Samuel L. Smedley envisioned the pond when he founded Glen Providence in 1935, and effusive Chester Times articles about the new park tracked the pond’s construction. Work had begun on the “lake” by April 1936: “Entering from the Third street end… From here the nature lover, following paths recently completed by the WPA will see springs, and a small lake in the course of completion.” The pond was “nearly completed” by August.

A 1937 article about Glen Providence described the new pond in detail: “The most outstanding object of interest is “Mirror Lake,” 400 feet long, 100 feet wide, irregular in outline, constructed near the middle of the property, and to the west of Broomall’s Run. The  water supply is by a by-pass, from Broomall’s Run… A second supply is from the larger spring [the historical drinking spring near Broomall’s Dam]… the water being carried through about 500 feet of pipe and liberated over an artificial cascade into the lake, making a very attractive feature.” That cascade would later be improved in 1948 by the Providence Garden Club as the Eleanor Reed Butler Waterfall – with her husband, Eleanor had donated the majority of the land for the park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum.

Fishing, skating, ducks… and the Swamp Man!

True to its intended purpose, the pond was the site of years of fishing derbies for children in summer, and was regularly stocked with perch, bass, and sunfish. Enchantingly, there were lights around the pond for nighttime skating in winter! The pond also hosted a cast of feathered characters, with ducks and geese that were named by the park guards – and some of their antics made the newspapers!*

Any manmade body of water requires maintenance over time, and by the early 1980’s, the pond had virtually dried up. Under Recreation Supervisor Terry Smith, Delaware County Parks & Recreation held a “Sherlock Holmes Mystery Walk” in 1981 at the dried-up pond, which “won rejuvenation thanks to public awareness.” The pond was dredged, and in 1983 and 1984, “Great Bullfrog Releases” were held inviting volunteers “to help release bullfrogs into the park’s revitalized pond.”

The pond went on to play a role in the park’s “Halloween Hauntings” in the 1980’s –  we’ve heard from many people about the scary “Swamp Man” who hid in the pond (in scuba gear!), jumping out at passers-by!  

The pond today

While still full of wildlife including several species of turtles, fish, and frogs, the pond is again filling with sediment. Sometime since 1975, the pipes feeding the Eleanor Reed Butler Waterfall caved in, eliminating a source of water and aeration for the pond. A fountain was installed in the pond in the early 2000’s to help with aeration, but was ultimately vandalized. The pond’s shallowness, combined with insufficient aeration and inadequate vegetation around the pond, contribute to it being overgrown with algae in summers. 

There are potential upcoming changes to the pond as a result of the Broomall’s Dam replacement (now anticipated for 2018), including the possible creation of wetlands at one end of the pond. In any case, the pond will need dredging, stabilization of the intake and outlet, and planting of trees, shrubs, and appropriate native vegetation around, and in, the water to restore and preserve its ecosystem.

We hope that revitalization is successful, and that future generations are able to enjoy this WPA pond!   

*I’ll write more about the fishing derbies, illustrious ducks, and winter skating in future articles!

Click below to see the charming 1939 photos by local resident GJ Ulshafer showing what the new pond looked like, an undated postcard, and photos from 1944, 1959, and 2016. 

Early Spring pond panorama in 2016 – click for a closer view

Sources:

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

Chester Times:
Club Leaders See New County Park, November 1, 1935
New Park Rich in Trees, Birds, April 2, 1936
Parks Pilgrimage, June 6, 1936
Glen Providence Nature Oddity, August 8, 1936
Delaware County Park Board Makes Progress, February 8, 1937
Glen Providence, On Edge of Media, Is Bird Haven, July 22, 1944
Swing Into Spring, April 10, 1959

The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Whodunit? At Bottom, It’s a Plot to Help Delco Parks, September 18, 1981
A Great Bullfrog Release Nears – Volunteers Restocking Media Park Pond, June 19, 1984

Spring emerges in waves of blooms around Glen Providence Park – starting with lovely ephemerals Bloodroot and Trout Lily. Soon after, trees start blossoming around the pond, with elegant Serviceberry followed by Silverbell, Redbud, and Black Cherry. Some of the more whimsical flowers in the park are those of the Horsechestnut tree found on the sledding hill, and the Buttonbush that we planted near the pond. 2015 was the first year I can remember seeing Rhododendron and earlier-blooming Mountain Laurel flowering in the park on the same day, in early June.

At the pond, we saw our first Black Ducks, and for the second year in a row, Solitary Sandpipers! In the woods, Pileated Woodpeckers made their usual dramatic (and sometimes loud) appearances. We spotted a Great Crested Flycatcher and a Hermit Thrush, a sweet bird with a similar ethereal song to the Wood Thrush. It was exciting to watch a pair of Baltimore Orioles over several weeks as they built and tended a nest – but unfortunately we think a predator got to the eggs. The orioles spend most of their time high in the canopy – their nest was over 50 feet up in a tree!

For our fourth year, we tracked the timing of the emergence in the park of both ephemeral Bloodroot flowers and American Toads. Each year, the toads have emerged at the pond 5 to 8 days after the Bloodroot buds appeared on the western hill, despite a 3-week variation in the timing of the Bloodroot. After the long-lasting 2014-2015 winter, the Bloodroot buds appeared on April 6, and the comical toads (with their loud trilling!) 8 days later on April 14. We started tracking the timing of other plants in the glen – it will be interesting to see if any patterns emerge. For more on phenology, the study of timing in nature, see our Spring 2013 photojournal.

Summer brought peaceful mornings in the woods with the shade of all those trees providing respite from the heat. Hundreds enjoyed summer afternoons at our Summer Concert Series, including a special 80th anniversary celebration for Glen Providence. Throughout the spring and summer, we invited the community to deepen its appreciation of the glen with monthly events for kids and adults including two cleanups and herpetology, stream life, tree, and nature walks.

Click on any of the chronological photos below for a closer look, or scroll through them all. You can compare our 2015 spring and summer to other years in my photojournals, starting in August 2011. And many of these photos have detailed captions in our Facebook albums.

On this first day of fall, a look back to last year’s autumn beauty in Glen Providence Park! I spent some lovely and serene fall mornings along the trails and at the pond, encountering wildlife and interesting plants. Foliage seems to be starting slightly later each year – it had barely begun changing in early October, and did not peak until the end of the month. Early dustings of snow hinted at the upcoming snowy winter – on November 13, and again on Thanksgiving day!

Some wildlife encounters are more eventful than others… One early November hike took an exciting turn when we came across two White-tailed bucks scuffling over a doe! A few times it seemed they might charge at us. We were startled one morning during our weekly Invasives Removal to come face-to-face with an Eastern Garter Snake in a tree we were liberating from invasive vines. I saw my first Black Squirrel, which I had heard about living in Media, but had never seen. As a melanistic variety of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, individual Black Squirrels can exist wherever Gray Squirrels live.

I always watch for birds, which we continue to document on eBird for our Park Bird List. The park was frequented for a few weeks by a flock of up to 100 Common Grackles – they can be noisy, making odd sounds like rusty gates and like clucking – and they are entertaining to watch! Mallards returned to the pond with their occasional antics, with Winter Wren and Cooper’s Hawk being other birds I managed to photograph… you can view park sightings on eBird for the fall migration months of August through November to see what to expect in the fall!

With all the beautiful foliage, it can be hard to remember to look down, but don’t miss what is on the forest floor! In the past several years I have seen some amazingly varied fungi in the park – I would like to learn much more about them. Clubmosses, Lycopodiopsida, are primitive plants that reproduce through spores. According to wikipedia, the spores were used in Victorian theater to produce flame-effects(!), burning rapidly and brightly, with little heat.

Our monthly events last fall were our fun and rewarding annual planting day for National Public Lands Day in September, an engaging Scavenger Hunt for Kids in October, and a wonderful Geology Walk in November.

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, or scroll through them all! There are more pictures in our facebook albums. You can compare our 2014 autumn to other years in my photojournals for September, October and November 2011, and from Fall 2012 and Fall 2013.

Photos by author.

Join us for a nature walk in Glen Providence Park, during one of its most beautiful months! We will be led by local birder and naturalist Gary Stolz, with over 30 years experience leading nature walks and programs, both nationally and internationally. We’ll look for turtles and toadlets at the pond, wildlife and native plants along the trails, and birds on their spring migration!

Spring Nature Walk

Sunday, May 3
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Main entrance, State Street, Media
Rain or shine
 
 
Our Spring Nature Walk is also part of Transition Town Media’s 2nd Annual Happiness Week – you can check their schedule for more events!

Logistics:

• Estimated distance: 1.5 miles
• Estimated time: 2 hours
• Free!
• Be prepared for stream crossings, steep hills, and uneven, possibly muddy terrain: wear sturdy walking shoes, bring a hiking pole if you use one, and you never know when you’ll want binoculars!
• While we welcome dogs on many of our walks, we will be looking for sensitive wildlife – so please leave those cuties at home.
• If the weather is truly inclement, we will post on facebook and our website by 9:00 am whether we will cancel.

After a long, cold, snowy winter, 2014 brought a later spring than usual in Glen Providence Park – it snowed as late as St. Patrick’s Day. Early spring ephemeral flowers bloomed in the park about 4 days later than in 2013, which had been 17 days later than the very warm Spring of 2012!

Spring bird sightings brought our Park Bird List up to 112 species with additions including Wild Turkey(!), Worm-eating Warbler, Cooper’s and Broad-winged Hawks, and a Mother’s Day Yellow-throated Vireo! We observed a Pileated Woodpecker over several days as it bored a series of holes in a tree, and watched a pair of Tufted Titmouse take deliveries of moss to their nest. Exciting sightings at the pond were remarkably-patterned Wood Ducks, and Solitary Sandpipers!

For our third year, we tracked the timing of the emergence in the park of both emphemeral Bloodroot flowers and American Toads. Each year, the toads have emerged at the pond 5-6 days after the Bloodroot buds appeared on the western hill, or 4-5 days after the full Bloodroot flowers. In 2014, the Bloodroot buds appeared on April 7, and the toads 5 days later on April 12 – the same day as the 60th Anniversary Great Media Easter Egg Hunt! You can read a father’s charming account of taking his daughters to the Egg Hunt and to see the toads at the pond. For more on “phenology,” the study of timing in nature, see our Spring 2013 photojournal.

In Summer, Delaware County Parks & Recreation did substantial work in the park, with emergency streambank repairs by the pond, and repairs to the historical stage from a fallen 110-year-old White Ash. We watched fly fishing lessons at the pond by Delco Manning Trout Unlimited and Sporting Gentleman, enjoyed our third year of summer concerts in the park, and we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!

Click on any photo below for a closer look, or scroll through them all. You can compare our 2014 spring and summer to other years in my photojournals, starting in August 2011. And many of these photos have more detailed captions in our Facebook albums. 

It was a winter wonderland in Glen Providence Park last year! Pennsylvania Woolly bear caterpillars had “predicted” last fall that the 2013-2014 winter would be cold and wet – oh, how right they were. Philadelphia had its third snowiest winter on record (since 1872), making for abundant sledding and magical scenery for winter walks. In February, we found a large valentine written in the snow on the frozen pond!

The temperature went as low as 4 degrees, but we observed birds foraging even on our coldest excursions in the park, leaving us to marvel at the resilience of these creatures. The sightings of Snow Geese and Ring-billed Gull brought our Park Bird List to 105 species. We captured our first photograph of a Bald Eagle in the park, being chased by American Crows! The intriguing Skunk Cabbage once again melted its way through the frozen ground, the first plant to flower each year – in winter.

You can click on any photo below for a closer look, and scroll through them all. You can compare our 2013-2014 winter to other years in my photojournals for December 2011, January and February 2012, and winter 2012-2013.  

[AFG_gallery id=’15’]

We were delighted last year when local resident William Vanleer shared with us a series of 12 photographs by his grandfather, GJ Ulshafer, taken in Glen Providence Park around 1939! There are wonderful written descriptions of the park from its early years in the Chester Times and elsewhere, but early photos are harder to find.

These 1939 photographs are enchanting, showing entrance signs for “Glen Providence Bird Sanctuary & Arboretum,” rustic footbridges, and even the park’s original drinking spring by the base of Broomall’s Dam, as described in the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park. That guide was written by long-time park supervisor James R. Stokes, Jr., who may be the park guard in one of the photos! The park visitors’ attire alone evokes a bygone era.

This collection of images is a treasure, and we are very grateful to William Vanleer for sharing his grandfather’s photographs with us.

Click on any photo for a closer look! There is further information about some of the photographs in our History album on Facebook. 

On June 28, a beautiful early summer day, environmental science and biology teacher Aura Lester delighted an audience of 18 children and adults with fascinating facts about the flora and fauna of Glen Providence Park. Walking down the hill from the entrance to the park, we stopped to identify a few of our native plants including a sassafras tree by its mitten shaped leaves, the spicebush by the fragrance of its bark and poison ivy by its “leaflets three”.

As we walked toward the glen basin, we spotted native Jewelweed, used as an antidote to the itch of poison ivy. Also identified were some unwelcome invasive plants creeping along the stream edge including multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle and common privet.

Nearing the pond, Mrs. Lester reminded the children to approach quietly as nature detectives. Standing still observing from the perimeter, a green patina on the shallow, slow moving water came to life as fish darted just below the surface glinting in reflected daylight and turtles were spied sunning on logs, dragonflies flitting above it all at the marshy edges.

We circled the pond to the other side hoping for a glance of our resident muskrat, but  he did not come out of his burrow this time. The children spotted frenzied activity at ground level and then a profusion of tiny frogs began to emerge from the turf. We watched our step from that point on!

Heading back up the hill to the stage area, Aura led the children in a game of dragonfly tag. The theme continued with an entertaining craft making dragon flies out of spring clothes pins. All went home with glitter glue rainbow colored fingers and a hand made reminder of a sunny summer day!

Hearty thanks to our resident biologist Aura Lester and all who attended for an educational and fun filled event.

Check out the photos of the fun below!