The content for Schuylkill Navigation was collected by Sandy Sorlien from numerous primary and secondary sources. Our research sources, including public archives and historical societies, can be found on the Resources page.
Sandy has also created new written material and images. Her research and photography has been supported since 2013 by the Fairmount Water Works, the education arm of the Philadelphia Water Department. Her book-in-progress about the Navigation, Inland, is partially supported by a 2020 Charles A. Peterson Senior Fellowship from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Thanks are due to these outstanding cultural centers.
We also thank canal researchers Larry Whyte, Glenn Wenrich, John Bambrick, and Stuart Wells – Sandy’s accomplices in Schuylkill Valley bushwhacking. In addition we thank Laura Catalano, formerly of the Schuylkill River Greenways Association, and Adam Levine, PWD’s infrastructure historian at PhillyH2O. offshoots.
The mission of the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center is to foster stewardship of our shared water resources by encouraging informed decisions about the use of land and water. The Center is located below Philadelphia’s Fairmount Dam, where once the Schuylkill Navigation Locks 71 and 72 released all boats to tidewater. Thank you to Director Karen Young for her constant support of this work.
The Schuylkill Navigation project connects Fairmount to the head of navigation, 108 miles northwest in the Coal Region, Schuylkill County. It also connects our shared enjoyment of the river to a past of innovative engineering, rapid industrial growth, catastrophic water pollution, and heroic environmental restoration.
Contact [email protected] with questions, information, and corrections, or enter a comment in the Guest Book. Uncovering the Navigation ruins is a work in progress, and you may have found something interesting.
Sandy has also created new written material and images. Her research and photography has been supported since 2013 by the Fairmount Water Works, the education arm of the Philadelphia Water Department. Her book-in-progress about the Navigation, Inland, is partially supported by a 2020 Charles A. Peterson Senior Fellowship from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Thanks are due to these outstanding cultural centers.
We also thank canal researchers Larry Whyte, Glenn Wenrich, John Bambrick, and Stuart Wells – Sandy’s accomplices in Schuylkill Valley bushwhacking. In addition we thank Laura Catalano, formerly of the Schuylkill River Greenways Association, and Adam Levine, PWD’s infrastructure historian at PhillyH2O. offshoots.
The mission of the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center is to foster stewardship of our shared water resources by encouraging informed decisions about the use of land and water. The Center is located below Philadelphia’s Fairmount Dam, where once the Schuylkill Navigation Locks 71 and 72 released all boats to tidewater. Thank you to Director Karen Young for her constant support of this work.
The Schuylkill Navigation project connects Fairmount to the head of navigation, 108 miles northwest in the Coal Region, Schuylkill County. It also connects our shared enjoyment of the river to a past of innovative engineering, rapid industrial growth, catastrophic water pollution, and heroic environmental restoration.
Contact [email protected] with questions, information, and corrections, or enter a comment in the Guest Book. Uncovering the Navigation ruins is a work in progress, and you may have found something interesting.
©Sandy Sorlien 2020