Bartram’s Garden, Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center, and the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum are amazing Southwest Philadelphia resources! They provide access to public green space for gathering, relaxation, exercise, and a wide array of free and low-cost programs. At Bartram’s Garden, you can boat and fish for free on the Tidal Schuylkill River; at Cobbs Creek, participate in family-friendly guided nature activities along a creek and wetland; and at Heinz, explore over 10 miles of marsh-side trails and spot migrating birds. Each site has its own distinct landscape and programs, and there’s so much to see and learn by visiting all three! All within 5 miles of each other, these places are part of the same neighborhood ecosystem.
To reduce transportation barriers on weekends when all are hosting special events, Bartram’s Garden, Cobbs Creek, and Heinz have periodically arranged a free yellow bus service to provide rides between their locations with additional stops at partner recreation centers and schools in Southwest. The next community shuttle will be running during the Southwest Spring Fest over the weekend of April 27 and 28! See the schedule to plan your visit.
We hope to find ways to continue improving transportation access, so that visitors can easily get to our sites from throughout the Southwest community on a regular basis. At the Garden, we are working with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to offer more bike programming this season, and we may venture further afield in the future to lead guided bike rides to John Heinz and Cobbs Creek! If you have other ideas for how we could collaborate to improve access, contact Chloe at cwang@bartramsgarden.org.
