Program Helps to Increase Access to Schuylkill River

Inspired by urban river projects that have revitalized the cities of Los Angeles and New York, the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH) is collaborating on a project with Bartram’s Garden and River Corps to increase access to the Lower Schuylkill River, helping more people connect to the storied waterway.

“We’ve been working and collaborating on the river all year long,” says Bethany Wiggin, an associate professor of Germanic languages and literatures and founding director of the PPEH. “The experience of getting on the water—whether in Bartram’s public kayaks or in our public Lab at WetLand—has been absolutely central.”

The project seeks to supplement a number of ongoing riverfront programs and projects underway at Bartram’s Garden. They include the PPEH Lab at WetLand, a public art project for “experiments in sustainability” based in a houseboat on the river.

The first phase of the project will culminate in river and watershed tours led by the corps of certified river guides in kayaks, bicycles, and on foot. In phase two, a website will be created with information about the Schuylkill River, its past, and future. The third phase will involve development of a mobile app to enable visitors to explore the river on their own through self-guided tours.