Hi Folks,

I'm moving to town and am curious about this area.
• What is this area like in general?
• Is this part of Upper Roxborough or is it Shawmont?
• I read a thread a while back about some development in this area, an apartment complex, I believe. Did that happen?
• What about the sale of the Boy Scout parcel by the Center for Environmental Education?
• Was the land between Shawmont and Port Royal ever developed in the past? ( old farms, factories, etc.)


Any feedback would help. We've found a property that's in the vicinity but we know little about this neck of the woods.
Thanks!

monkeymark

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kinda quiet over there. right on the bike trail. def not upper roxborough. it's down by the river.

The area is pretty quite but has some nice features. You're reall close to te Ivy Ridge Train Station and Shoprite. They are building a fairly large apartment complex right on the corner of Shwamont & Umbria. I don't know much about it, it looks like they are moving along fairly quickly.

Well, first Shawmont Avenue is a hill, a BIG hill,

Second, 99% of people won't know anything about "Minerva", that is simply a short section of street that seamlessly connects 2 high speed arterial roads, Shawmont and Umbria.

Third most people just think about that area as "Shawmont" and "Umbria."

The area is small residential homes on the north/west side of the road, and a 3 large condominium complexe on the south/east side- one is established, "Green Tree Run", while the other is relatively new.

It's Shawmont, even has it's own civic Association. Homes along Shawmotn are sort of "tied" into the Nixon/River Road area (which is the actual location of Shawmont- Shawmont Avenue leads you down the Hill to the Shawmont Train Station, in the riverside village of Shawmont.

Yes, it's a huge condominium complex along Umbria Avenue.

That's on the easter edge of the next road to the west of Shawmont.

Previously, it was all farmland, now the area is mostly suburban style single family homes, with a few townhomes mixed in.

It's one of the most "suburban" area of Philadelphia, lots of single homes, winding driveways- more like a location on the outskirts of a Bucks or Montgomery County town than the edge of Philadelphia.

Hal

Hey Mark. Welcome to the blog. I am interested to see your posts going into the future.

Some of the stuff out there is barely even suburban - I would just call it rural. There are some farm houses and such tucked away up around there that I am pretty sure are not even on the city's water grid. At the bottom of the hill, near there is a residential strip of homes and trailers on the edge of Schuykill that flood every year but people who live there do so to enjoy the access to the river for boating, etc. There was an article a few years back in the City Paper about these folks, waterskiing against several water experts recomendations, etc.

Its very bucolic out there although obviously a little isolated and it is right by the bike trail on the old railroad bed which extends from Manayunk up to Valley Forge.

Hal - you mentioned the Shawmont train station, but the R5 doesn't stop there anymore does it?

Correct, public water and sewer along Shawmont, but not along Port Royal.

Ah yes,
mobile homes, trucks, boats, waver runners and Nascar stickers,
welcome to "Alabama on the Schuylkill"

The Shawmont Station has been closed for decades, the R5 probably never stopped there since it iis along the R6 Norristown line.
(There are plans to revive R5 service to Quakertown via this stretch of R6 track, coming donw from Quakertown to Lansdale, then veering over past Merck via the Stoney Creek branch between Landsale & Norristown, so it's technically possible that there may be a R5 running past that station.

Hal