"The Ridge" separates the valleys of the the Schuylkill River and the Wissahickon Creek in Northwest Philadelphia. Its salient feature is a group of very tall steel towers, built to broadcast UHF television. There are still farms on the North end of the Ridge, and its steep Western slope has some remote and even wild places.

Thomas K Sharpless

Above Flat Rock Dam

The Flat Rock Dam spans the Schuylkill River near the Northwest corner of Philadelphia.  It is part of the now long defunct  Schuylkill Canal, first opened in 1828.  The antenna towers on Ivy Ridge have been a feature of the Philly skyline since t...

Thomas K Sharpless

Below Flat Rock Dam

I have not seen this view since about 1956, but apart from the fish ladder and a lot of new excrescences on the "TV towers" it looks much the same now as then. My father used to fish for wall-eyed pike from those rocks in the middle of the river, ...

Thomas K Sharpless

Nameless Brook

I have not been able to find a name for this little stream, which runs down the Ridge between Wigard Avenue and Domino Lane in the area of Philadelphia known as Ivy Ridge -- the site of many big communications towers, one of which is visible in th...

Thomas K Sharpless

Roxborough Ridge Runners

A spring evening meet of custom car enthusiasts at the Ivy Ridge Shopping Center at Ridge Avenue and Domino Lane in Northwest Philly.  Behind the supermarket is one of the densest concentrations of communications towers to be found anywhere.  Most...

Thomas K Sharpless

Domino and Umbria

Domino Lane crosses Ridge Avenue in the middle of the Ivy Ridge section of Northwest Philadelphia.  It is surrounded by a crowd of TV bradcasting and communications towers that are visible all over the city.  This picture, taken on Umbria Street a...

Thomas K Sharpless

Abandoned Camp

Not far from the Green Pool I found a campsite that has evidently had more than one tenant.  Some of the furnishings may have come from the nearby Philadelphia Northwest Recycling Center.

Thomas K Sharpless

Port Royal and Lare

The Ridge, above the Schuylkill River, holds the Northwest Philadelphia community of Roxborough, and a lot of old water works and new communications towers.  There are several examples of all of those in this picture, taken near the highest point ...

Thomas K Sharpless

Port Royal Avenue and Lare Street from the Air

Aerial view showing the disused reservoir, community playing fields, church, communications towers and still active water tanks, at the highest point of "The Ridge" in Northwest Philadelphia.  Shot 23 September 2016 with DJI Phantom 4 / Litchi app.

Thomas K Sharpless

Green Pool

The open space between the TV towers on Ivy Ridge is a kind of secret people's park.  Near the bottom of that area, almost at the base of a 600 foot tower, a little stream feeds this amazing small wetland.

Thomas K Sharpless

The Green Pool

This lush green pool is part of a tiny, trash-filled brook in a de-facto park on the slope of "The Ridge" in Northwest Philadelphia, in the zone of the big communications towers.

Thomas K Sharpless

Garden Plots at Manatawna Farm

About 500 acres on the West slope of the Ridge, at the Southwest corner of Northwest Philadelphia, are still held in wild and/or agricultural condition.  This part been used for community gardens since the 1970s. The Urban Agrarian Dream is in ful...