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.
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.
