Parking

This week, I will do the obvious and write about Rittenhouse Square. Everyone who has spent more than ten seconds in our fair city has heard of Rittenhouse, right? Heck, Robert Downey even made a documentary about the park, so you needn't have even been here to have heard about and gotten some sense of the experience in the park. But, still, it's unfair of me to ignore a park because it's popular or because I have some unspoken agenda to introduce you all to the smaller, more neighborhoody parks that abound in Philly. I cannot be a park snob. So, Rittenhouse: this week is your week.

Rittenhouse, nee Southwest Square, was one of the five parks planned by William Penn (We've covered several of them). It bears the distinction of being the only square not to have been used as a burial ground. In 1825, Southwest Square was renamed after David Rittenhouse, a clockmaker and astronomer who happened to be descended from William Rittenhouse, who started the first paper mill over in what is now called Rittenhousetown, in Fairmount Park. David Rittenhouse was at one time the president of the American Philosophical Society, the first director of the US Mint, and in the tradition of naming things "Rittenhouse," has a lunar crater named for him.

The area around Rittenhouse became the fashionable, ritzy part of town to live during the latter part of the 1800s, with mansions lining the streets facing the park. Although the mansions are mostly gone, replaced by high rise condo buildings, Rittenhouse remains a tony area and the park remains a hotspot, with a farmer's market, several arts fairs each year, concerts in the summer, and painters, buskers, and chess players frequently scattered throughout the park. Rittenhouse is also home to several intriguing sculptures. I can't decide which one I like the most, Lion Crushing a Serpent by Antoine-Louis Barye, in the center of the park (pictured) or Duck Girl by Paul Manship, located in the pool. There is also a sculpture of a giant frog, and across from this sculpture, a memorial to Star "Sarcasmo" Foster, a former Phillyist co-editor.

Care of the park is overseen by the Friends of Rittenhouse Square, an organization started in 1976 to work with the Fairmount Park Commission to keep the square pretty. The Friends are responsible for restoring the fountain behind the reflecting pool, replanting and maintaining the entrances, installing teak benches, and generally preserving and improving the park.

I won't say Rittenhouse is the perfect park. Sure, the squirrels are a bit out of control sometimes. And there were (or still are?) rats that would rustle the bushes behind the stone wall in the central area of the park. And there was sadly, an issue with homeless people sleeping in the park about a year ago, which upset some residents of the area, although that matter seems to have been somewhat resolved. Rittenhouse is not without its problems, but it remains a great park nonetheless.

Upcoming Events in Parks:

Educational Fun:

• Bats: The Mysteries Revealed at The Tree House, 300 Northwestern Avenue. Friday, 10/16, 6-7:30PM.

Get Involved:

• Dickinson Square Park Clean Up Saturday, 9AM, Tasker and 4th Streets (previous Parking).

Dance:

• Line Dancing at Malcolm X Park. Wednesday, 10/14, 6-9PM

Festivals/Flea Markets:

• Uhuru Flea Market, Clark Park. Saturday, 10/17, 9AM-5PM. (Previous Parking)
• 10th Annual Peoplehood Pageant and Parade, Clark Park. Saturday, 10/17, 12-4PM.
• Art in the Park, Clark Park. Sunday, 10/18, 12-4PM
• Clothesline Art, Penn Treaty Park. Saturday, 10/17, 10AM-2PM. (Previous Parking)
• Fall Festival, Schuylkill River Park. Saturday, 10/17, 11AM-3PM. (Previous Parking)

Farmer's Markets:

• Cliveden Park, Wednesdays, 2-6PM, Chew Avenue and Johnson Street
• Schuylkill River Park, Wednesdays, 3-7PM
• Fitler Square (Previous Parking), Saturdays, 9AM-1PM
• Clark Park (Previous Parking), Thursdays, 3-7PM, Saturdays, 10AM-1PM
• Rittenhouse Square (Tuesdays, 10AM-1PM and Saturdays 9:30AM-3PM
• Palmer Park Frankford Avenue and East Palmer Street, Thursdays, 2-6PM

If you know of anything exciting happening in your local park in the near future, please e-mail amy@phillyist.com!