Listen to a short description of this ghost garden, the Osage oranges, and then scroll down to see what used to be here on the site where you are now standing.
Around the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition <CHECK>, the natural range of Osage oranges was very small, although the tree can thrive in many parts of the country. Why?
Well, some researchers believe that the fruit of the Osage orange was mainly eaten by North American megafauna, large mammals such as giant sloths and native North American horses. These animals ate the fruit, roamed widely, and defecated the inedible seeds over a wide territory, allowing the tree to also range widely. But the North American megafauna became extinct for unknown reasons about 10,000 years ago. Some speculate that without these large, far-ranging animals to spread their seeds, Osage oranges gradually became restricted to one small region of North America.
As for the site where you are now standing, St. Peter's has remained largely the same.
Around the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition <CHECK>, the natural range of Osage oranges was very small, although the tree can thrive in many parts of the country. Why?
Well, some researchers believe that the fruit of the Osage orange was mainly eaten by North American megafauna, large mammals such as giant sloths and native North American horses. These animals ate the fruit, roamed widely, and defecated the inedible seeds over a wide territory, allowing the tree to also range widely. But the North American megafauna became extinct for unknown reasons about 10,000 years ago. Some speculate that without these large, far-ranging animals to spread their seeds, Osage oranges gradually became restricted to one small region of North America.
As for the site where you are now standing, St. Peter's has remained largely the same.
Top: From Penn's great town; 250 years of Philadelphia architecture illustrated in prints and drawings, George B. Tatum, American Philosophical Society.Bottom: St. Peter's [Protestant Episcopal] Church, ca. 1870, Robert Newell, PhillyHistory.org. iPhone with GPS users: visit PhillyHistory.org's mobile site to find additional images of your current location.
Want to revisit this page later or view the pages for all the sites that are part of Ghost Gardens, Lost Landscapes? Click here. Ghost Gardens explores lost, vanished, or forgotten Philadelphia gardens, landscapes, and animals related to those showcased in Of Elephants and Roses, an exhibition by the American Philosophical Society Museum on view until December 31, 2011 (admission is free). Ghost Gardens was funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program. Ghost Gardens was created by Erin McLeary and is maintained by the American Philosophical Society Museum.
