Explore the Philadelphia RiverWays community
Find the nearest access point and start exploring the waterways.
Student participants of Urban BoatWorks, through UrbanPromise, spend the school year working with volunteers building canoes, paddleboats and kayaks. After a special ceremony Saturday, the students launched their handmade craft into the water, enjoying a lazy ride along the Cooper River Lake.
Destiny Wilson spent the other day drifting down the languid Cooper River away from Camden, toward the Delaware, in a canoe that she built with her own hands. Excitedly, she identified a double-crested cormorant, then a bald eagle and a few blue herons as they dozed in the shade or soared above. Read more at Philly.com
A few years before the French Revolution, William Bartram shipped over to the French government 50 types of agricultural seeds he’d collected, along with documents showing their names and a short essay about how they were used. Read more at WHYY
When Sandra C. Rekstad stepped into the wooden boat two summers ago bobbing on the Delaware River, she was immediately impressed.
Over the next five months 90+ students from eight Philadelphia area High Schools will complete another 19’ Outboard Garvey as they explore the myriad STEM challenges that present themselves in the real build of a real wooden boat.
Urban BoatWorks goes beyond teaching the craft of wooden boat building. The volunteer-run program also helps young people learn responsibility and leadership skills.
A youth program in Camden is making an impact on hundreds of middle and high school students. Nearly all of the kids who participate go on to college.
And some return to help guide future generations.