![]() Its dramatic geography and dense forest attract thousands of walkers, riders, and bikers. Though at first fairly tame, in its last 7 miles (11 km), the Wissahickon stream drops over 100 feet (30 m) in altitude. 1865 Wissahickon Creek with Wissahickon Memorial Bridge in Background, 2008 The Teedyuscung statue Geography and recreation Wissahickon Creek near Philadelphia photo by John Moran, c. A few of the dams built for the mills remain visible today. Industry sprang up along the Wissahickon not long after European settlement, with America's first paper mill set up on one of the Wissahickon's tributaries. Whitpaine was an early land owner in the days of William Penn. On the earliest map of this region of Pennsylvania, by Thomas Holme, the stream is called Whitpaine's creek, after one of the original settlers Richard Whitpaine, who owned several large tracts on the creek. The name of the creek comes from the Lenape word wiessahitkonk, for "catfish creek" or "stream of yellowish color." The gorge area is now part of Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, and the Wissahickon Valley is known as one of 600 National Natural Landmarks of the United States. The beauty of this area attracted the attention of literary personages like Edgar Allan Poe and John Greenleaf Whittier. ![]() Much of the creek now runs through or next to parkland, with the last few miles running through a deep gorge. Its watershed covers about 64 square miles (170 km 2). ![]() Wissahickon Creek rises in Montgomery County, runs approximately 23 miles (37 km) passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia. Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania. ![]()
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