Virtually Gina

Germantown is a neighborhood tucked neatly away into the northwest corner of Philadelphia proper. Although nowadays it consists of both residential and urban streets, Germantown was decidedly rural at one point in time. George Washington and his family owned a summer home here, where they would take respite from the bustling streets of Philadelphia (which was still our nation’s capitol at the time).

Below, you will find a few modern images of Germantown as seen through a Nikon lens on a grey spring afternoon in the year 2012.

A tree-lined path on School House Lane.

Two gentlemen eager to have their portraits taken along Germantown Ave.

“The Germantown White House,” where our nation’s first president would retreat with his family for a bit of fresh, country air.

Informational placards near the house inform passers-by as to the building’s historical significance.

A few hundred feet away from George Washington’s former summer home, the image of a smiling President Obama peers through a shop-window.

One of the smaller buildings on the campus of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

An unmarked building of questionable historical significance.

Same building, detail.

Colorful window decals decorate a Germantown childcare center.

Image captured in the cemetery behind St. Luke’s church.

Headstones in the St. Luke’s cemetery awash in a sea of fallen magnolia petals.

Vignette, St. Luke’s cemetery.

Church doorway.

Are these Germantown church spires or the turrets of an ancient English castle? (Believe it or not, they’re the former.)

The building where Louisa May Alcott was born (now a piano factory).

Informational placards abound in the City of Brotherly Love.

Another view of the building that is now a piano factory.

A newer home along School House Lane.

A splash of spring color cheers the senses on an otherwise grey day.