This began with Ye Olde Photographer doing a summer morning trek down the main street (Pennsylvania Route 29) capturing a few architectural details of some turn-of-the-last-century houses found in this town near YOP. From time to time he may add some additional examples of the many interesting structures here.

Way back, this area had the state's first copper mine. Over time there have been an assortment of small industries, as well as ice gathering and storage. Until the mid 20th Century the town had rail passenger service to Philadelphia, Reading and elsewhere via the Perkiomen Branch of the Reading Railroad (now only found on your Monoply game!) Folks would travel by rail from Philadelphia to a number of hotels that offered fishing and relief from summer heat along the Perkiomen Creek, a major watercourse that powered a number of mills in the center of the county.

The former railroad right-of-way is now the bulk of the twenty mile Perkiomen Trail, a Montgomery County recreational facility. Schwenksville offers access to the trail, as well as a bike shop and an ice cream shop next to the trail.

Just south of the town on Route 29 one will find Ott's Exotic Plants, a garden center and conservatory that features many unusual plants -- orchids, cactus and citrus, among others. They also have a mountain of chrysanthemums covered with blooms in the early fall, quite a sight.