Bartram's Garden — Attraction in Philadelphia

Tucked away in deep Southwest Philly, this little oasis offers up some respite from the hustle and bustle of Center City - all without having to leave city limits!

The area is carved out by the river. Theres a lot going on from an outdoors perspective, offering trails to walk, bike, free boating on summer Saturdays, fishing (with proper licensing), and so much more for all members of the fam. There's a working farm on site as well!

I came here to check out the boating and was glad I was able to take on the experience. They have free rentals on Saturdays during the summer from 11AM - 3PM. They have options for both canoeing and kayaking. I chose to kayak and enjoyed the experience! The instructors are great with setting you up, and for beginners they do offer basic instructions.

There's a few spots for parking on site, so if one lot is full, you can continue down to another site down the trail to try your luck.

There's also a great welcome center and gift shop! Lots of information to look over, learn of the history of area, and also find a momento to take back with you. There are also some restrooms in the area.

Overall, solid place to check out and come back to - especially since...

I'm really sad that this oasis is being trashed by some reviewers. No, it isn't in the greatest neighborhood, but stop calling people's homes the hood, the ghetto, and trash. Have some civility!

The gardens are absolutely lovely - even in the fall. The young woman at the welcome center was so nice and so helpful and so vibrant that she really surprised me. We walked to a nearly 300 year old apple cider press and we were so taken with it that we stayed there and imagined what it would have been like to have experienced the process.

We enjoyed speaking with a volunteer about the community farm and its good works. What an incredible experience for young people to have in an urban setting!

Finally, we visited the event tent and pictured how beautiful a wedding or special event could be there. You can see pictures on the website. I really loved the fallen column bench outside the tent b/c it was such a lovely idea.

People talking about refunds? Refund for what? The garden admission is free and no donations were requested. It seems to me that a National Historic Landmark like this one should be cherished, not chastised.

My...

This was my very first visit here and I found it to be very beautiful there. The grounds are very nice and easy to traverse. The gift shop is very small but it has a lot of nice souvenirs and has a cooler with very cheap water which was a plus on an 85°F (29.4°C) day. In the gift shop you can pick up a green passport book which has a list of 36 other garden/forest/wild areas to explore and each one has a unique stamp that you can put into the book and keep track of when you were there. The Website has a more up to date print at home passport but if you want something made of nice material I’d pick one up here. I’m not giving 5 stars mostly because the trail by the river had a lot of garbage along the path and close to the river (but that’s mostly because it washes up). Due to COVID-19 they may be short on staff which is understandable that it is not frequently being removed. Also, getting there takes you through some very seedy areas that I frankly would not walk through even during the day so I’d drive there or take an Uber or Lyft. This is a great place to enjoy some nature and have a picnic though, I’d...