I suppose that every zoo in its own way has an interesting story behind its creation. I love the fact that the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted the father of American landscape design and the genius who laid out Central Park in New York City. But few have a connection as fundamental to the City and State in which it is found as the Philadelphia Zoo. Before there was a zoo there was a country estate called "The Solitude" on this site along the western side of the Schuylkill River. And on this estate a mansion designed by its founder in 1785, John Penn. Yup, those Penns. John was William Penn's grandson, and the mansion remains on the site of the zoo to this very day. It is, in point of fact, the only existing domicile of a member of the Penn family of his generation and before, making it the oldest home to have been inhabited by a Penn who was alive in the colonial era. Today it is used for the occasional special function, but it isn't very large for a mansion. I should wonder that it's square footage is less than twice that of my little home.
I suppose that every zoo in its own way has an interesting story behind its creation. I love the fact that the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted the father of American landscape design and the genius who laid out Central Park in New York City. But few have a connection as fundamental to the City and State in which it is found as the Philadelphia Zoo. Before there was a zoo there was a country estate called "The Solitude" on this site along the western side of the Schuylkill River. And on this estate a mansion designed by its founder in 1785, John Penn. Yup, those Penns. John was William Penn's grandson, and the mansion remains on the site of the zoo to this very day. It is, in point of fact, the only existing domicile of a member of the Penn family of his generation and before, making it the oldest home to have been inhabited by a Penn who was alive in the colonial era. Today it is used for the occasional special function, but it isn't very large for a mansion. I should wonder that it's square footage is less than twice that of my little home.
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