Subjects Landscape

Maps, etchings, newspaper clippings and other images and documents covering the natural landscape of Philadelphia and surrounding areas throughout more than 300 years of history.

Pennypack Park and Creek map, Roland Williams, 2005

Pennypack Park Map

Mount Moriah Historic Cemetery and Arboretum

The ecology of Center City, Philadelphia (in case you didn’t know there was any)

Color image of a grassy field with trees and buildings surrounding it and white lines drawn on the grass mimicking the path of a creek.

Drawing Dock Creek

Smith and Windmill Islands

Visionary planning report for Philadelphia region, 1928

Fairmount Gardens, with the Schuylkill Bridge. This 1839 engraving, published in London, shows a view of the South Garden from the walkways that brought visitors up the cliffside to the overlooks at the height of the reservoirs. The fountain used the pressure of the reservoirs and was a a delightful refreshment in hot weather, and a wonder at all times. One anachronistic element of this engraving is the Upper Ferry Bridge, which burned the year before the print was published. Harding’s Hotel, a popular resort, is at the western end of the bridge.

Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge, 1839

“Fairmount Waterworks. From the forebay.” (From nature & on stone G. Lehman; Published by C.G. Childs & G. Lehman, 1833. Free Library of Philadelphia, Print & Picture Collection)

Fairmount Water Works from the forebay, 1833

Black-and-white drawing of two cabins with a wooden walkway in front

A Day in the Ma’sh – At CLXIV Canal Boat St.

State House Garden, Philadelphia, 1800

The City and Port of Philadelphia on the River Delaware from Kensington, 1800

Fairmount, bird's eye view from Lemon Hill (detail)

Fairmount Park, bird’s eye view from Lemon Hill, detail