Crossing the Lines

Former Chamounix Drive crossing of the run at the bottom of Chamounix Valley.

Tucked away deep inside Fairmount Park, on the west bank of the Schuylkill River is Chamounix Mansion. near its highest point, Prospect Mount, is Chamounix Mansion. Reachable only by the two-mile-long arrow-straight Chamounix Drive from Belmont Avenue, it is far from the Plateau or the three great dells that once formed the centerpiece of the West Park–Belmont and Lansdowne and Sweetbriar. Nowadays the mansion is a youth hostel and there’s a riding academy nearby. But its location, on a spur far from the park’s main centers, renders it remote for those who do not have anything to do there. It is all but forgotten to the average park goer. But, truth be told, this  fourth dell was once one of the park’s major attractions–and even today, it holds in equal doses wonder and mystery and sweet calm.

While land deeds on this site go all the way back to Pennsylvania’s founding ... Read more at Hidden City Philadelphia.