CHCA / what to do

WHAT TO DO

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Outdoors so bold, you can't believe you're still in the city.

The heart and soul of Chestnut Hill just may lie in the Wissahickon Valley. Here you can imagine horse drawn wagons taking their loads to the mills that studded the Wissahickon Creek well into the late 1800毗. You can hike under rocky outcroppings of schist from which many of the houses in the neighborhood were built. You can experience all the flora and fauna of the Delaware Valley, from red foxes to blue herons. You can literally get lost in the woods, far from street grids and pavement, cell phones and traffic jams. You can walk, run, bicycle, ride a horse, and at certain times of year, ski nine miles without crossing a road. Year after year, national running and cycling magazines name the Wissahickon Valley among their top ten places for their sports.

Besides the Wissahickon Valley there is a system of smaller parks throughout Chestnut Hill, such as the pastoral setting of Pastorius Park, the site of a summer concert series and the unofficial dog park of Chestnut Hill; and pocket parks along Germantown Ave., such as Buckley Park where shoppers can rest their tired feet. Children scamper over, under, through and around an elaborate playground built by community members on the property of the neighborhood elementary school.

Residents make use of community tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and swing sets. Youth sports leagues, organized and coached by committed volunteers, run programs in baseball, basketball, and soccer. Private clubs in the area offer tennis, golf, swimming and skating. The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania is a garden gem that can delight during any season.

Chestnut Hill offers you all the vibrancy of city life, surrounded by wild, wooded parklands.