Kernsville Dam is on the Schuylkill River a short distance north of Hamburg, off PA Route 61. We took advantage of a brisk but beautiful fall day to get our blood circulating.

The dam was part of a mid-20th century project to create silting basins to preciptate fine coal particles washed downriver from mining operations and recover the coal for providing energy.

This section of the Schuylkill Valley, now part of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area, at one time contained two railroad lines and a canal paralleling the river to transport coal from the anthracite region north of here. One line, part of the former Reading Railroad, is still operated as a small short line, the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern, performing some freight services and running occasional excursions with both diesel and steam locomotion.

The former Pennsylvania Railroad line is now being transformed into a recreational trail. The section shown here is part of the John Bartram Trail. When the various segments are connected, a process that is making good progress, it will be possible to travel the Schuylkill River corridor from center city Philadelphia through Reading and up to Pottsville in Schuylkill County.

More recently, armed with a new hybrid bicycle, Ye Olde Photographer returned to see how far above Port Clinton he could go, toward Auburn (both towns are in Schuylkill County).