Lighthouse Scull

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania isn't a place that many people associate with maritime lighthouses, but it has one. The Turtle Rock lighthouse is located on a portion of the Schuylkill River that, in the mid-19th century, was a heavily traveled waterway for hauling timber, ore, and fresh produce into the city from farms and industrial sites far to the west. The same stretch of water was also a center for the then-growing sport of rowing and the beginning of the famed Philadelphia sculling venue known as Boathouse Row. Everything about this broad curve of river is now like a trip back in time and I have spent many hours trying to find the confluence of sky, clouds, lighthouse and sculler that captures the essence of the place as Thomas Eakins might have painted it.