{"id":6516,"date":"2020-05-20T10:10:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T10:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/?p=6516"},"modified":"2020-05-20T11:07:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T11:07:19","slug":"may-20-2020-quaranteam-traveler-dispatch-50-under-strawberry-mansion-bridge-schuylkill-river-sketchbook-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcelhinneyart.com\/jlmcelhinney\/may-20-2020-quaranteam-traveler-dispatch-50-under-strawberry-mansion-bridge-schuylkill-river-sketchbook-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"May 20, 2020. Quaranteam Traveler Dispatch #50. Under Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Wednesdsy June 20, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

After seventy-four days in quarantine, it is a pleasure to publish my fiftieth blogpost, dedicated an expeditionary spirit, hoping that these diversions might inspire us all to value things previously taken for granted, to draw strength, wisdom and compassion from deeper engagements with nature, and the world around us.<\/p>\n

Exploring the banks of the Schuylkill River in 2018, between the mouth of Wissahickon Creek and Fairmount Water-Works<\/a> I filled a sketchbook with paintings. Later that year, a suite of prints <\/a>drawn from this journal would become the centerpiece of an installation<\/a> at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

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\nUnder Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Schuylkill River Sketchbook. Wednesday June 20, 2018<\/p>\n

Stretching southward along the west bank of the Schuylkill, between the Gillin Boathouse at Saint Joseph\u2019s University and the grandstand beside Columbia Railroad Bridge is a broad, grassy embankment sloping gently down from Kelly Drive to a stone bulkhead on the riverbank. Traversed by pedestrian and bike trails, the strand is sheltered beneath a canopy of trees. At its northern extremity is Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Taking its name from an eighteenth-century estate originally known as Summerville<\/em><\/a>, the span was hailed as a marvel of modern engineering. Privately funded, the entire structure was prefabricated twenty-five miles upstream by Phoenix Iron Company and assembled at its present location in 1897. Its filigree steel arches soared above the river, carrying trolley-cars pedestrians, and vehicular traffic between the eastern and western sections of Fairmount Park<\/a>. Trolleys stopped running in 1946. After decades of hard use and disrepair, a major restoration of the bridge was completed just two years shy of its centennial. <\/p>\n

William Birch (1755-1834) Mendenhall Ferry<\/em>. Birch’s Views of Philadelphia. 1800<\/a> Birch’s view is looking eastward toward Laurel Hill Mansion. Atop the bluffs today is Laurel Hill Cemetery<\/a>, founded in 1836. Along with Mount Auburn Cemetery<\/a> founded in 1831 and Green-Wood Cemetery<\/a> founded in 1836, Laurel Hill represented part of the vanguard of the rural cemetery movement. Taking root in American cities during the nineteenth century, these pastoral graveyards employed principles of landscape design espoused by Lancelot “Capability” Brown<\/a> (1715-1783), made possible by architectural methods devised in the construction of fortifications designed by Comte de Vauban<\/a> (1633-1707). These rural cemeteries paved the way for the creation of the urban pastorale<\/em> of New York Central Park, Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C., and he campuses of America’s new land-grant colleges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Competing crews assemble upstream at a chain of pontoon boats. The race begins. Passing under the bridge, slender hulls glide upon the water on their way downstream to the finish line. Following heavy rains, effluence from towns and tributaries upstream gives the water an orange hue, which makes for dazzling light effects under azure skies. In Eakins\u2019s day, water pollution was far worse than it is today. Casting our gaze upriver one finds Mendenhall Ferry<\/em><\/a> on the left, opposite he present-day intersection of Kelly Drive and Hunting Park Avenue, which bisects historic Laurel Hill Cemetery. Rising up from the distant tree-line is the cupola of Thomas Mifflin School<\/em><\/a> in East Falls, behind the gray concrete viaduct of Roosevelt Boulevard, a.k.a. Route U.S. 1. <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nStrawberry Mansion Bridge from Beside Saint Joseph University Boathouse<\/em>. Schuylkill River Sketchbook.2018
\nI became fascinated with the engineering of this prefabricated bridge. Its elements were all produced first as drawings, manufactured upriver in Phoenixville and then assembled at is present location. The complex system of arches and trusses expresses a certain beauty which has been lost to the expediency of reinforced concrete and I-beams. Prior to its construction, traffic crossed the river at Mendenhall Ferry. <\/p>\n

Check out April 2020 Quaranteam Traveler Dispatches<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

(A preview of SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER<\/a><\/em> by James L. McElhinney (c) 2020. Schiffer Publishing).
\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright James Lancel McElhinney (c) 2020 Texts and images may be reproduced (with proper citation) by permission of the author. To enquire, send a request to
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After seventy-four days in quarantine, it is a pleasure to publish my fiftieth blogpost, dedicated an expeditionary spirit, hoping that these diversions might inspire us all to value things previously taken for granted, to draw strength, wisdom and compassion from deeper engagements with nature, and the world around us. Exploring the banks of the Schuylkill … Continue reading May 20, 2020. Quaranteam Traveler Dispatch #50. Under Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Wednesdsy June 20, 2018<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nMay 20, 2020. Quaranteam Traveler Dispatch #50. Under Strawberry Mansion Bridge. 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