The bulldozers await

It's strange when you see things you vividly remember from your youth primed for destruction. I know exactly where the Perikomen Bridge Hotel is located having seen it from every seat of my parents' cars as we passed it for many various and asundry reasons, though mostly soccer games and camping come to mind. The description of the intersection does not do it justice, it is so horrifically bad that it is beyond anything that letters can describe. The area itself is not aesthetically pleasing as more having lost it's charm with constant modern additions, including the recent cookie cutter box strip mall put in just around the corner to further scar the landscape. The towns roads did not make the conversion from horse-based transportation to automobiles very well either. Tight quick turns, a narrow bridge, and narrower roads, and, of course, the Perkiomen Creek made for some tight grips on the steering wheel.

We are still living the sins of urban renewal and what we are left with are some of these century old structures deteriorate in locations that are not conducive to modern roadside businesses. Saving these structures comes down to a a choice between expensive preservation and potential money to be made on the land. I generally think things are more complicated than they first appear, but in cases with our collective physical history decisions are easy. The objects remain or the disappear into stories told over pictures. I am aware that not everything can be saved, nor should it. There is always a business component and historical societies are not wealthy enough to occupy every historic structure worth saving. In the case of the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel, I really hope they save it because I have a personal attachment to seeing that structure at that insane corner. A corner, which makes getting to the property so difficult and frustrating that I don't see any great advantage to the location for any business.

For me it is not just a part of history, it is a part of my history that I hope remains real. The hotel, which for generations has been the landmark for that hard left turn off Main to wind along the Perkiomen creek into the wilderness of Montgomery County will be gone forever. It is one of the historic landmarks that deserves to be saved. It certainly deserves better than being replaced by a nondescript box store surrounded by an endless parking lot, which is what I am sure some developers have already decided on.


(picture from the Philadelphia Inquirer)