Hey, LBomb369... what was all the stuff that is now in the small strip of woods there? Do you have any ideas? Kind of where the Mary statue used to be. There are lots of granite rocks, cement paths, and iron fences in there but I have no idea what was there.

The only thing I remember back that far was the Mary statue. When we played back there, the statue was still there. Then the head was missing. Then the whole statue.
Up by the chapel was a school and I guess the convent. There also is two columns of trees leading from the lake back there. Those trees led to the school. If you look at the trees high enough, you can see the hooks that they used to hang the Stations of the Cross.
There was also a big red house out there with a multi-car garage. It was owned by a black family named Buford. The city had to condemn it and evict them out because the roof for yeeaaarrss was collapsing. They relocated them to the smaller yellow house on the edge of the grounds, not far from where the original house stood.
Funny how you forget these things until you are reminded of them.

__________________
My Tribute to P/O Pat McDonald :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFg2h9E2LFo
Rest in Peace, brother.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/14946781@N03/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/My_Philadelphia/

What does anger me is how the new homes were able to get park "view" at the cost of you being able to see them.


Especially the guy you gets the lake view.

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Wow, that's great stuff!

See if I can do this right!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/...a298c7.jpg?v=0
This shot abv is the flagpole that stood at the school (St Katherine's) in Eden Hall.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2400/...afb3e1.jpg?v=0
The abv shot is the row of trees leading up to the school where the Stations of the Cross were displayed.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2191/...95fee2.jpg?v=0
If my memory serves me, this was a water fountain.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2027/...1402f6.jpg?v=0
Abv is the lake. I feel REAL sentimental about it right now!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2279/...23c501.jpg?v=0
The LAKE. I fished here as a child. I rode my bike at the ridiculous angle around the lake. It all comes back!!!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/...45b61d.jpg?v=0
You have no idea how awesome I felt showing my son where I played and fished, and rode bikes as a boy. He really didn't care! I did though!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2002/...e99d89.jpg?v=0
When I was a boy, this view did NOT include these homes! (SIGH)
It was a brief afternoon for me and my boy at Eden Hall. he really didn't care too much to walk around as I wanted. ALAS, we never made it back to the infamous Mary statue. Sadly, most of what I remember is GONE! The school....no reminders at all. Just a clean space of grass. The sisters' ice house is long gone too! That was "infamous" for years after the nuns no longer needed it. Our "crew" of 9-10 year old know-it-alls always thought of it as a devil-worship location. there was graffitti all over it and stories of naked local teens as altars. It was the only part of Eden Hall we tried to ignore!
Even the hooks that I referred to earlier...I could not find any!
The bike path that we made WAYYYYY back then...GONE. It was a dirt path the encircles the ball fields and the lake. and passed the houses that grace the land now.
I felt like I was 10 again.

__________________
My Tribute to P/O Pat McDonald :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFg2h9E2LFo
Rest in Peace, brother.

---------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14946781@N03/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/My_Philadelphia/

Wow, thanks for the cool pictures... it puts a lot of things into perspective. I think it's great that you got some nostalgic fun out of it! You mentioned you didn't make it to the Mary stutue ... the stone structure is still there, however, half of it is painted silver... the other half filled with grafitti. So... there's not much to see there!

Did Eden Hall have something to do with the Drexel family or am I mistaken?

__________________
"I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God."
John Shelby Spong

Go Phillies!

I think this Northeast Times article will give you a little bit of history about it. There really isn't a whole lot available online. But yes, the Drexel's were involved with Eden Hall... also Katherine Drexel's parents (and I believe younger sister) were, at one point, entombed there.