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Events Calendar

Please pre-register by calling 215-482-7300 x 110.

For the complete Schuylkill Center events calendar, please visit: Interactive Events Calendar.

Download a complete list of our March, April and May 2012 events

Explore the Schuylkill Center after dark! Learn about nocturnal animals, listen to the calls of the frogs, and watch for the silhouette of an owl or bat. After the hike we'll roast marshmallows around the campfire. Bring a flashlight if you have one and join us for a fun evening. Fun for the entire family! Pre-registration required; space is limited.


$5/members; $10/non-members



If you like to work outdoors, join us for a volunteer workday and help maintain the Center's land and trails. Workdays are held the third Saturday morning of each month and typically involve the removal of invasive plants within our restoration sites, fixing deer fences, and trail upkeep. We'll gather at the main building before we head outdoors. Families welcome.


Remember to dress in layers, wear sturdy boots, and bring a refillable water bottle. Water refills and snacks are provided to participants.

Cost: FREE



Spring's parade continues, bringing new flowers and new birds through our woodlands. Mike Weilbacher and Joanne Donohue lead a second walk through the emerging spring forest, looking for new blossoms and birds, including the elusive blackpoll warbler, the last warbler in the parade passing through. Space is limited; preregistration is required.


Cost: FREE



Weekends are for exploring, and each Saturday at the Schuylkill Center you'll find a different nature theme to investigate! Join us at 10:30 am for a naturalist-led exploration of artifacts in the Discovery Center and a hike on the trails. Learn something special about what%u2019s happening in nature this week.


Cost: FREE



Young children love exploration. Give your preschooler a chance to discover the natural world around them through guided "nature play."


Research suggests that unstructured play and exploration in the out-of-doors are essential to a child's intellectual development as well as their physical and mental health. Playing with friends develops important social skills, such as sharing and taking turns. So join us for some sunshine, mud pies and good old-fashioned outdoor fun!

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Seedlings programs are for curious young naturalists-to-be between the ages of 3 and 5 years and their parents and caregivers. Each program highlights a different aspect of nature and encourages children and their caregivers to explore the natural world together.

New format! Programs are now offered every Monday. The format alternates weekly between guided nature play and a more structured educational program. Each Monday offers your choice of a morning or afternoon session. Adult participation is required.

Cost:
$6 members, $8 non-members or $48/$64 for the season, March-May, 2012



Co-sponsored by the Roxborough-Manayunk-Wissahickon Historical Association


The Schuylkill Center's 365 acres were donated as a nature center by two branches of Henry Howard Houston's extensive family tree, the Smiths and the Meigs. By the turn of the century, the family had amassed 5,000 acres of property from Chestnut Hill to Roxborough and into Whitemarsh. Houston's original vision, shared by his son Sam, was to build a major road from Chestnut Hill to Roxborough, then on across a proposed bridge over the Schuylkill and into the Main Line. Mysteriously, the bridge never happened. Why? Binney Meigs, trustee at the Schuylkill Center and grandson of the land's donor, presents his extensive research into what might have happened. It's a great story that includes other surprises. (Hint: the United Nations is involved!)

short version:
The Schuylkill Center's 365 acres were donated as a nature center by two branches of Henry Howard Houston's extensive family tree, the Smiths and the Meigs. But Houston's original turn-of-the-century vision for the land called for development, not preservation. Binney Meigs, Schuylkill Center trustee and grandson of the land's donor, presents his extensive research into those early plans and the vicissitudes of fortune and family that led to the Center's creation. It's a great story full of surprises.

Cost: FREE



The second in our new series of roundtable book discussions. In the post-Columbian era, it seems completely natural to find tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, potatoes in Ireland, chili peppers in Thailand. Yet none are native to those places. In a much-heralded sequel to his 1491, an account of the world before Columbus, historian Charles C. Mann calls Columbus's voyage %u201Cthe most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs.%u201D In Columbus's wake, earthworms, mosquitoes, and cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions, and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and, of course, rats, rushed into new lands, changing lives and landscapes planet-wide.

Mike Weilbacher leads a lively discussion of the book with esteemed guests Paul Meyer, director of the Morris Arboretum, Carol Franklin, principal of the ecological design firm Andropogon Associates, and Joanne Donohue, SCEE%u2019s own restoration manager.

Buy the book at SCEE%u2019s gift shop, and join us for a freewheeling conversation.

short version:

In this much-heralded sequel to his 1491, an account of the world before Columbus, historian Charles C. Mann calls Columbus%u2019s voyage %u201Cthe most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs.%u201D In Columbus's wake, earthworms and mosquitoes; honeybees and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and, of course, rats, rushed into new lands, changing lives and landscapes planet-wide. Join us and our guests, Morris Arboretum%u2019s Paul Meyer and Andropogon Associates%u2019 Carol Franklin, for a freewheeling discussion of the book and its implications.

Cost: FREE



Join us for a lively story hour on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month at 10:30am in our bookstore. Enjoy a story, games and hands-on exploration %u2013 all with a nature theme for your young one.


Cost: FREE



What is an insect? How do insects spend their lives? We'll explore the fields, ponds and forest of the Schuylkill Center in search of our six-legged friends. Your little entomologist will have the chance to make an insect observation chamber for their own explorations at home.

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Seedlings programs are for curious young naturalists-to-be between the ages of 3 and 5 years and their parents and caregivers. Each program highlights a different aspect of nature and encourages children and their caregivers to explore the natural world together.

New format! Programs are now offered every Monday. The format alternates weekly between guided nature play and a more structured educational program. Each Monday offers your choice of a morning or afternoon session. Adult participation is required.

Cost:
$6 members, $8 non-members or $48/$64 for the season, March-May, 2012



Count on us every Saturday morning. Every second and fourth Saturday we gather in the gift shop for story times and games. On the first and third Saturdays of the month we meet in the Discovery Center for a naturalist-led exploration of artifacts and an outdoor walk. We'll explore different nature themes each week.

Free.