The Cresheim Trail Outdoor Classroom, like a lot of modern good ideas, grew out of creative solutions to the covid-19 pandemic.
In early 2021, when masking and social distancing were still the norm, FOCT board members including Dan Mercer and Christine Bush, a STEM teacher at Henry H Houston School (public K–8), began exploring a space that would get kids outdoors and interested in their natural surroundings. That spring, an area was identified where the main Cresheim Trail crosses Cresheim Road, an eight-minute walk from the school. Volunteers cleared a circle and a sidepath to it from the main trail, and longtime CT crew leader Dave Dannenberg cut up a fallen tree into stump seats.
In the following two years, use of the space increased, with multiple teachers bringing their students here, and others such as mountain bike groups using it for a place of rest on a ride.
In April 2023, Dave again put his chainsaw and mill machine to work, cutting up an oak tree that fell in his backyard. A team of six volunteers from FOCT and Friends of the Wissahickon then hauled, transported, and installed the benches in the classroom space.
In summer 2025, Ethan Ravasco, a veteran of the Philly Wiss and SoMont mountain biking teams and a member of Scouts BSA Troop 334, approached FOCT about conducting his Eagle Scout project on the trail. With some coordination with his family and FOCT President John Raisch, Ethan fabricated the kiosk and installed it onsite at the Outdoor Classroom in late summer 2025 before he left for college. In December, FOCT hosted a dedication ceremony with Ethan, his dad, a Houston School family, and Houston Principal Dr. LeRoy Hall, along with FOCT’s John Raisch, Christine Bush, and Brad Maule.
Some upcoming plans for the space include new brochures for the kiosk, and new programs oriented around the space and trail.