Photo: The Schuylkill River looking south toward the Philadelphia skyline in August of 2007. Photographed by Ed Yakovich (own work), via commons.wikimedia.com, public domain.
The Schuylkill River rises in Schuylkill County and flows in a generally southeasterly direction through Berks, Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia where it empties into the Delaware River.
The river valley and its watershed were designated the >Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area by Act of Congress in 2000. It is one more than 3 dozen such designations in the United States. Pennsylvania is favorably represented with the Schuylkill being one of five National Heritage Areas found in the state. [1]
See: Historic Schuylkill River Villas.
Principal Schuylkill Riverside Towns
† The other Pennsylvania Heritage Areas are: Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (1988), Southwest Pennsylvania Industrial Heritage Route (1988), Oil Region National Heritage Area (2004), and the Lackawanna Valley National Heritage Area (2000).
The National Park Service offers the following definition of a National Heritage Area:
A "national heritage area" is a place designated by the United States Congress where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally-distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography. These areas tell nationally important stories about our nation and are representative of the national experience through both the physical features that remain and the traditions that have evolved within in them.