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2.02.2025

Lehigh Parkway: Allentown's Great Urban Park, Museum of Indian Culture/Lenni Lenape Heritage Museum, Covered Bridge, Trout Hatchery, & More

One of the finest things in city planning that was done in the city of Allentown was the creation and preservation of the Lehigh Parkway. It is a beautifully wooded, 629 acre park in the heart of the city of Allentown. It and the bulk of the Allentown City Parks, and regional attractions like the Trexler Game Preserve, and Hickory Run State Park were founded under the vision of industrialist and philanthropist Harry Clay Trexler. 


Lehigh Parkway serves as a year round community gathering spot with its trails, historic structures including a covered bridge, an old iron through truss bridge, and a historic stone buildings. Much of the development of the park can be credited to Depression era WPA projects. Over the holidays, the road that runs through the park is decorated for a beautiful drive through lights display called Lights in the Parkway. In my humble opinion, after having gone through many drive through displays across the state, it is one of the best, if not the best, drive through lights display around. It is simply stunning. 
If you have read our blog for any period of time, you may notice that urban parks are a heavy focus of ours. Public green space that everyone has access to has huge quality of life benefits to communities. They serve as natural gathering places for communities to come together and celebrate. The trees and vegetation create oxygen that create clean air to breathe. These large urban parks serve almost like the lungs of their regions in converting that CO2 back into oxygen for us to breathe. The creek that flows through the park is a renowned trout habitat, one that I often fished in my youth. People jog, hike, and walk their dogs on the paths and trails throughout. Since the area sits in one the lowest lying area in the city, during heavy rains the valley serves as a flood plain, preserving many of the occupied property areas in the city. Additionally, the numerous historic structures located within the park are preserved for future generations to learn about the region's heritage. 

Nearby, there is also the Lil Lehigh Trout Hatchery and adjacent Museum of Indian Culture that showcases the culture of the local Native American tribal unit, the Lenni Lenape/Delaware Peoples, whose land covered basically the entirety of both the Philadelphia and New York Metro areas, and all of New Jersey. They were the tribal unit that first interacted with William Penn and they got seriously hurt by the Walking Purchase and further policies pushing them out of their native lands. The museum is lovely and informative, a wonderful part of the overall community and my first introduction to the world of Native Americans. They also cover a series of other native cultures across the Western Hemisphere.

Bogert's Covered Bridge is 145 feet long and crosses the Lil Lehigh Creek and dates back to 1841. 




Be sure to check out the nearby Lil Lehigh Trout Hatchery as well. There are also a bunch of covered bridges within about a 15-20 minute ride of here that are well worth checking out. Here is a link to our guide to Lehigh County Covered Bridges

1.12.2025

Stillwater Covered Bridge, Columbia County

The Stillwater Covered Bridge is one of the northernmost covered bridges in Columbia County, of the hotspots for these spans in the state. It crosses Big Fishing Creek and dates all the way back to 1849.
Columbia County has done more to make their bridges accessible and a center of the community than many other counties. On the bridges that are not passable by vehicle anymore, they have placed picnic tables within the bridge, and often surrounding them as well. Terrific for a picnic or to just sit and take in the beauty of the bridges and the nature surrounding them. 
The bridge utilize Burr Arch Truss construction and measures in at a substantial 151 feet long. Its location makes it hard to miss if you are en route between Knoebels Amusement Resort and Worlds End State Park and Ricketts Glen State Park. It is also pretty close to the Benton Overlook. This area is terrific to aimlessly drive around. So many scenic and fun things around this area.
The picnic tables are such a nice touch. Columbia and Montour Counties take such an appreciative approach to these historic structures and we all benefit from it.
GPS Coordinates:
41.152057, -76.367138
 

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