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Cresheim Trail: A rewarding 2024, a promising 2025
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Recent Posts

NEW DATE: Cresheim Trail volunteer workday SUN 7/19
Volunteer Workday Wed 7/1 CANCELED
Cresheim Trail volunteer workday Sun 6/21
Cresheim Valley Drive Cleanup: Sat 5/16
Toast to the Trail: Cresheim Trail Fundraiser 2026

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Donate to Cresheim Trail online (Square)

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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cresheimtrail

A most righteous morning indeed went down on Cresh

A most righteous morning indeed went down on Cresheim Valley Drive today. Thank you so much to the 29 volunteers who came out, to @streetsphiladelphia for handling the road closure as always, and to @philaparkandrec who used the opportunity of a closed Drive to mow vegetation, remove downed trees, and haul away the 24 bags of trash we collected.

The haul included the customary hubcaps (4) and car parts, a chair, lots of election signs, and a handsome portrait of a kitten. Likewise, a crew of two cleared drains, Dan cleaned some of the Drive’s historic yellow brick gutter, a crew of 4–6 cut vines to expose the stone retaining wall of the Drive, another crew of 4–6 made a very satisfying first cut of japanese knotweed in the rock garden, and Alex even roped in and removed a huge batch of chinese wisteria from the cliff face, including a section that had smothered a nice rhododendron that is now free once more.

All in all, a wonderful way to Love Your Park. Thanks again to @chestnuthill_pa @mtairytrashteam @chestnuthillrotary @independenceyouthcycling and everyone who came out, and to Parks & Rec and @myphillypark for organizing LYP.

Our next volunteer outing falls on the summer solstice, Sunday June 21st (which is also Father’s Day). Details on that soon, but before then, join us for the 2026 Cresheim Trail fundraiser! Toast to the Trail is coming Friday May 29th — get your tickets at the link in our bio.

Sunny, 80º, and a light breeze? Now that’s a forec

Sunny, 80º, and a light breeze? Now that’s a forecast for taking a park stroll right down Cresheim Valley Drive. Join us TOMORROW for a morning of doing just that. The Drive will be closed from 9 to noon for our cleanup between Germantown and Stenton Avenues, and we’ll do some rock garden work while we’re at it.

It’s gonna be an awesome day, the Cresheim Trail contribution to Love Your Park festivities. Thank you to @philaparkandrec and @myphillypark for organizing, thank you to @streetsphiladelphia for helping us close the street, and double thanks to Parks & Rec for also hauling away the trash AND mowing the rail trail this week. Teamwork makes the dream work.

We’re meeting at 9AM at Mermaid Park (7645 Germantown Ave), where the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market will be setting up. If you’re driving, please park at the Friends Meeting (20 E Mermaid Lane), who’ve generously offered their parking lot for the event. You can walk right down the Friends Loop to the park.

Thank you to ALL our community partners for always showing up for this fun and important event:
• @mtairytrashteam
• @chestnuthillcommunity
• @chconservancy
• @chestnuthill_pa
• @westmtairyneighbors
• @mtairytrashteam
• @chquakermeeting
• @chestnuthillfm

See you then!

Four days till we tidy up; seventeen till we toast

Four days till we tidy up; seventeen till we toast. Not to boast, but Friends of the Cresheim Trail are known to throw a killer party, both indoors and out, and we’ve got one of each on the way.

THIS SATURDAY, MAY 16TH, we’ll spend the morning on a car-free Cresheim Valley Drive, picking up trash, pulling vines from a 100-year-old retaining wall, and cutting knotweed in the Quarry Rock Garden. It’s the Cresheim Love Your Park jam, and registration is at the link in our bio. We’ll meet at 9AM at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill. If you’re driving, please park at the Friends Meeting (20 E Mermaid Ln), who’ve kindly made their lot available to us. Bring a tote bag and you can knock off a little early to hit the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market, right in front of our meetup spot.

Then, on FRIDAY, MAY 29TH, join FOCT for this year’s Cresheim Trail fundraiser. We’ll be back at the Venetian Social Club, just up the Hill (8030 Germantown Ave) for an evening of dinner, drinks, live music, new merch, high honors, and good times.

The link-in-bio has both the cleanup registration and the fundraiser tickets, which start at just $40. Come to one, come to both; support the trail, fuel its growth. ✨

#cresheimtrail

Imagine a Cresheim Valley Drive, sparkling clean a

Imagine a Cresheim Valley Drive, sparkling clean and free of cars… A week from today, make that dream a reality. Join Friends of the Cresheim Trail and all our partners for a CVD cleanup and volunteer workday, part of Love Your Park spring festivities happening across the city.

We’ll meet at 9am next Saturday, May 16th, at Mermaid Park in Chestnut Hill. PLEASE NOTE that the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market will be happening, so if you are driving, plan on parking at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 E Mermaid Lane. (Thank you CHFM!) You can walk from the back of the lot right down the Friends Loop to the meetup spot.

Then, two weeks after that, join FOCT just up the Hill for a Toast to the Trail, our 2026 fundraiser. Tickets are available on a sliding scale starting at just $40. This event goes a long way toward supporting our mission to create and promote multi-use trails that connect communities and provide accessible open space in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. More details on this event to come.

In the meantime, join us next week for a little spring clean and green action. Registration is at the link in our bio, as are tickets to the Toast.

THANK YOU to all our community partners for this event: @streetsphiladelphia @philaparkandrec @myphillypark @chestnuthillcommunity @mtairytrashteam @westmtairyneighbors @chconservancy … and YOU!

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

(c) 2026 The Friends of the Cresheim Trail

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