The Friends of the Cresheim Trail
The Friends of the Cresheim Trail
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Cresheim Valley Drive Cleanup: Sat 5/16

April 30, 2026 / Friends of the Cresheim Trail / Work Days

The time has come once again to Love Your Park. Spring edition, that is, as Friends of the Cresheim Trail will host our annual cleanup of Cresheim Valley Drive (which is, in fact, a park drive) on Saturday, May 16th. We’ll meet at 9am at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill (7645 Germantown Ave) and walk […]

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Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Wed 4/1

March 24, 2026 / Friends of the Cresheim Trail / Work Days

Oh yes indeed, we’re getting right back to it. Friends of the Cresheim Trail are happy to announce our first weekday workday of the year on Wednesday, April 1st. No foolin’!  David Bower and the FOW Q-Team will join us to put some attention on the sidewalks where Emlen Street turns into Cresheim Valley Drive, […]

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Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sat 3/21

March 8, 2026 / Friends of the Cresheim Trail / Updates, Work Days

At last, our long winter’s thaw is over and we’re ready to get back in action. That long thaw has also flattened vegetation and maximized outdoor views, so let’s take advantage of all of the above on the first full day of spring, Saturday, March 21st. We have big plans this year for the Quarry […]

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February volunteer workday CANCELED (Sun 2/15)

February 11, 2026 / Friends of the Cresheim Trail / Work Days

Hate to do it folks, but… well, we’ve all been outside in the past two weeks. If the snow isn’t fully melted by Sunday, trail conditions will be hard and slick; if it is melted, things will be muddy and gross. Ergo, we’ve made the unpleasant decision to CANCEL our February volunteer workday, planned for […]

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Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sat 1/17

January 7, 2026 / Friends of the Cresheim Trail / Updates, Work Days

Holiday break’s over, time to get back to work in the woods! Join us on Saturday, January 17th for the first Cresheim Trail volunteer workday of the new year. We’ll take advantage of January sightlines and free some trees from the deathly grip of vines, english ivy in particular. English ivy is as invasive as […]

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Recent Posts

  • Cresheim Valley Drive Cleanup: Sat 5/16
  • Toast to the Trail: Cresheim Trail Fundraiser 2026
  • Earth Day Workday CANCELED! Volunteer event Sun 4/19
  • Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Wed 4/1
  • Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sat 3/21

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We encourage you to join our group by making a donation ($50 suggested) online at our Square page or by mail to:

Friends of the Cresheim Trail
PO Box 4341
Philadelphia, PA  19118

Contact Us

Email: info@cresheimtrail.org

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Eleven days till we KEEP IT CLEAN. Join FOCT and f Eleven days till we KEEP IT CLEAN. Join FOCT and friends to Love Your Park next weekend at our annual cleanup of the northern half of Cresheim Valley Drive. The road will be closed between Germantown and Stenton Avenues, so with a little help from @streetsphiladelphia and @philaparkandrec we’ll get out and clean up all that trash you’ve been wishing would be cleaned up. In fact, you can join us! It’s happening next SATURDAY, MAY 16TH. We’ll meet at 9am at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill (7645 Germantown Ave). Please note that the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market will be happening, so if you’re driving, please park at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting (20 E Mermaid Lane), who’ve generously made their lot available for this event. Walk to the back of the lot and take the Friends Loop down the hill to the meetup spot. As always, this event is part of the Love Your Park spring festivities, so please register at the link in our bio. Shoutout to our friends and partners @mtairytrashteam @chestnuthillcommunity #cresheimtrail
Shoutout to all our friends on the northern half o Shoutout to all our friends on the northern half of the Cresheim Valley - we’re coming your way, starting this weekend. • Sun 5/3, 11am–5pm: Stop by and see FOCT at the @chestnuthill_pa Home & Garden Festival. We’ll be on the 8000 block of the Avenue (between Willow Grove and Abington) with Cresheim Trail shirts, maps, water bottles, and info. • Sat 5/16, 9am–12pm: Love Your Park with FOCT at our annual cleanup of Cresheim Valley Drive and volunteer workday. We hope to have a big turnout for this to give the Drive between Germantown and Stenton Avenues a good cleaning, plus work in the Quarry Rock Garden — conveniently located along Cresheim Valley Drive. Please register at the link in our bio, as it helps Philadelphia Parks & Rec and Fairmount Park Conservancy coordinate this citywide event. • Fri 5/29, 7–9pm: Toast to the Trail! We’d love for you to join us for the annual Cresheim Trail fundraiser, at the historic Venetian Social Club, which turned 100 on the Hill last year. Tickets start at just $40 and go a long way to support the work FOCT does. More on all of the above soon. #cresheimtrail
Come on in, it’s a rhodo photo party! Rhododendron Come on in, it’s a rhodo photo party! Rhododendrons are common in Pennsylvania — at least 11 species are native to the commonwealth, both evergreen and deciduous, and they’re pretty common across the Wissahickon. The ones pictured here are evergreens — the first three pics are in the Quarry Rock Garden near the stone staircase; the last two are along the mainstem Cresheim Trail just north of the SEPTA Chestnut Hill West bridge. Catch these rhodo beauties while they’re still in bloom. 🌸 #cresheimtrail
You’re invited! 🎟️ Friends of the Cresheim Trail a You’re invited! 🎟️ Friends of the Cresheim Trail are happy to announce our 2026 fundraiser, TOAST TO THE TRAIL, coming Friday, May 29th at 7pm. We’ll be back at the historic Venetian Social Club in Chestnut Hill. Tickets are available on a sliding scale beginning at just $40. All are welcome for a fun evening in a beautiful space, with dinner from @jamaican_ds, @downtimebakery, and @thirdwheelcheeseco; live bluegrass music from @noggin_hill; all new Cresheim Trail merch; and a brand new award, to honor the longtime leadership of Susan and David Dannenberg. Your tickets support the work FOCT does to take care of four miles of existing trail, to steward the habitat the trail traverses, to plan future phases that will be on @thecircuittrails network, and to keep the momentum going as we build a trail from the Wissahickon to Fort Washington State Park. We’ll be sharing additional details in the days ahead, but in the meantime, grab a ticket today. They’re at the link in our bio.
Kindest blessings to Mother Earth on her big day. Kindest blessings to Mother Earth on her big day. We celebrated Earth Day with 31 volunteers this morning — on a weekday, in the rain. And we did our best to care for her in yon Quarry Rock Garden and Friends Loop. We pulled every last invasive garlic mustard plant, we hacked and hauled little thorns of multiflora rose and big thorns of trifoliate orange, we cleared cut up deadfall, we freed a very nice native spicebush in a prominent part of the cliff from years of invasive overgrowth, and we removed 13 bags of trash, many of it decades old from the farthest part of the Friends Loop’s new section, along with a tire and big scrap metal. And all of this happened before the rain became too heavy to continue. Not bad for a Wednesday! Our next volunteer outing will be Saturday May 16th’s cleanup of Cresheim Valley Drive, but come and see us before that at the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival on Sunday May 3rd! More info on both to come. #cresheimtrail
All right, let’s try this again: Earth Day, for re All right, let’s try this again: Earth Day, for real! 🌎 Friends of the Cresheim Trail will host a weekday workday to show our love for Mother Earth. She’s been awaiting our collective hands in the Quarry Rock Garden for a while, so let’s put em to work this Wednesday, April 22nd. We’ll meet at 9am at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill and hike in on the Friends Loop for an invasive plant whacking party, which in turn makes the native plants happy — plants like northern spicebush, which we’ll be putting a keen eye on. (See our post two before this one for more info.) We’ll be joined by David Bower and the @fowissahickon Q-Team, and we’d love your company too. Once again, a shoutout to @athleticbrewing who are supporting our restoration efforts in the Quarry Rock Garden through a Two for the Trails grant. #cresheimtrail
Maaaaan, we really hate to do this, but we’ve made Maaaaan, we really hate to do this, but we’ve made the decision to err on the side of caution and begrudgingly cancel this Sunday’s volunteer workday. Potentially heavy rain and high winds are in the forecast, neither of which make for a safe or fun workday. HOWEVER: The early forecast for next Wednesday looks pretty great for an Earth Day proper outdoors. So, let’s try that! If you’re available for a weekday workday, we’ll try all the same tasks in the same space at the same time: Wednesday, April 22nd, 9am–12pm in the Quarry Rock Garden. We’ll meet at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill (7645 Germantown Ave). Join us? #cresheimtrail
This weekend, we’re gonna keep it spicy. Spicebush This weekend, we’re gonna keep it spicy. Spicebush — northern spicebush specifically, Lindera benzoin — is native to eastern North America. It’s notable for its spicy fragrance, yellow spring blossoms (which are winding down after this heat wave), and red berries in the fall. It’s one of the most abundant understory shrubs in the Cresheim corridor and throughout the Wissahickon. And, it’s surprisingly plentiful in the Quarry Rock Garden, where we’ll be working at our volunteer outing THIS SUNDAY. The forecast looks like it’ll be a little wet, but as long as the rain does not involve thunder, lightning, or high winds, we’re gonna go for it. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than getting out in a little rain. Our partners at @wissrestvols and @fowissahickon agree, so grab a hat and a slicker and let’s do it! There are lots of invasive plants to remove (including several crowding otherwise healthy spicebush plants), deadfall to clear, trash to pick on the Friends Loop, good times to be had. We’ll meet at 9am in Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill, where @chestnuthillcommunity installed a butterfly as part of a collaboration with @morrisarboretum that will be up throughout 2026. If the forecast takes a turn for the worse, we’ll post any cancellations here. #cresheimtrail

 

(c) 2026 The Friends of the Cresheim Trail

The Friends of the Cresheim Trail
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