RESERVE THE PERFECT
LOT, IN A PERFECTLY
LOCATED SPOT.

Rydal Waters is a maintenance-free
cottage expansion of the renowned
Rydal Park Life Plan Community. Boasting
a clubhouse with cocktail lounge and
fitness center, as well as a pool and dog
park, Rydal Waters will set the standard
for elegant, fun and carefree living, with
the promise of future care, should it ever
be needed.

OL D Y
RY OR
DA 
AY L W
K R
OA D
The problems range in degree of difficulty. Miller said the
group has put together multiple bridges at the park, buying sup-
plies from the local hardware store and building the structure
together. Some members take the opportunity to release frus-
tration by hacking at trees, all the while observing the nature
around them.

Miller recalled once seeing a rabbit scurrying about on a
snowy day, evading the footsteps of nearby humans. The rabbit’s
escape plan was doomed from the start. A hawk swooped in and
gobbled it up.

“It’s nature happening right in front of you. It happens all the
time out there,” Miller said. “It’s like, ‘Wow, this is really nature.’
“You can wander across the edge of the river creek, and it’ll be
a picture you won’t see in any painting or any piece of artwork.”
The Friends’ work also includes clipping away invasive veg-
etation, such as multiflora rose and winged euonymus. Former
Friends President Tim Higgins explained that some plants are
accidently introduced to the environment and are not recognized
as food by animals in the park.

“These plants end up occupying space that is normally occu-
pied by plants browsed and eaten by fauna,” Higgins said.

More than 40 Friends chapters exist within the Pennsylvania
Parks & Forest Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 cor-
poration founded to preserve, protect and enhance Pennsylva-
nia’s state parks and forests.

PPFF is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, meaning
area Friends groups are reflecting on the work they’ve done over
the years.

Higgins is especially proud of the project he completed with
fellow Friends group member Gary Sawyer. About four years
ago, the duo worked with a vendor to organize a 12-mile-long
trail-marking system. Sawyer and Higgins hiked around the
park digging holes and filling them with posts, which are about
6 feet tall.

“It’s been very helpful to users of the park,” Higgins said.

For Higgins, though, perhaps the most rewarding aspect of
being part of the group is the camaraderie.

“It’s a common sense of trying to give something back to the
community, and make a public facility better,” Higgins said. “We
all have a great love of the outdoors.”
Miller said he’s enthralled by the spontaneity of the park.

“You can be walking ahead quietly and a fox will come out
and look at you. You can’t see something like that in your back-
yard,” Miller said. “You see all kinds of cool stuff. It’s not on TV
— it’s right there in front of you. There are people that like that
kind of stuff, and there are people who like to look at their phone
and use their two thumbs all day long.”
Even before Miller joined the Friends, he found himself wan-
dering through the park several times a month. Before the land
was sold to the state, much of it was owned by horse breeder
Walter M. Jeffords and his wife, Sarah, the niece of Samuel D.

Riddle, a prominent businessman who died in 1951.

Miller often found himself exploring the relic of history, dis-
covering old equipment in barns and buggies without horses.

Now, the park is a thriving beacon of nature, home to innumer-
able plants and animals.

Sometimes, people running the trails will come across a
member of the Friends clearing a path or snipping away invasive
vegetation. “They’ll stop and see us. They’ll say, ‘Oh, I wondered who
cleaned that,’” Miller said. “Then people will join the group the
next month because they want to help clean the trails they use.” l
ABINGTON LIBRARY
Rydal Waters is located at Old York Road and
Rydal Way, across from the Abington Library.

Attend an info event, arrange a personal tour or
call to learn more • 215-814-0355
Sales Office: 1515 The Fairway, Rydal, PA 19046
ExploreRydalWaters.org jneedelman@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0737
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THIS SUMMER
JUNE 7, 2018
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