Peace and Play at Weccacoe Square Playground

Before the cheesesteaks and the Mummers, the Lenape people named the area we know as South Philadelphia "Weccacoe" - meaning peaceful place.  Weccacoe Square honors that name today, a delightfully tranquil park among mature Plane trees in Queen Village.  New playgrounds bring welcome life to Weccacoe, and are well worth the visit.

Improvements to the Weccacoe Playground include new 2-5 and 5-12 play areas, with a larger area of safety surfacing, new adjacent tables and chairs, and an impressively tall structure that brings children right next to the second-story windows of beautiful row homes overlooking the park. 

Equipment:

2-5 play area

• A Little Tykes component post-and-deck system with metal slide.  An elevated canopy ("NU-edge Double Beam Roof") adds some drama to the structure, and welcomes opportunities for imaginary play.  There are a few nice touches here.  "Hear no evil" monkey faces are etched in the stair risers.  Metal mesh barriers provide a little more visibility than standard vertical rods, and keep the structure looking light.  At the top of the stair landing, a metal rod barrier is extruded to create a small bench.  The bench adds a little excitement by tweaking a standard element that normally has little play value.  It's a clever modification that I personally encountered for the first time.

5-12 play area

• A Little Tykes component post-and-deck system, with a variety of bells and whistles.  Most notably, the structure rises to ~10' at the north end, an impressive height for a spiral slide, and a wonderfully elevated perch for lookout games.  Criss-crossing rope climbers allow children to scale all the way to the high post.  Unfortunately, the rope climbers and a rope bridge on the structure's back side are a little dull, and don't seem to inspire much interest.  The pitched roofs repeat a motif on the smaller structure and add to the vertical drama.
• An arch swing structure with three belt swings, two tot seats, and an inclusive seat

Ages: 2-12, and up.  There's plenty of room to run around
Surface: Poured Rubber
Shade: 1.5? (there were no leaves for our visit, but the large trees are all on the perimeter, and trees within the play area are quite small)
Water: Fortunately if it's as sunny as it looks, there's a pole fountain that appears to be in working order.  The fountain was turned off for the season during our visit.
Other: Adjacent tennis court (neighborhood residents reserve times in advance), outdoor ping pong table, tables and chairs, and a community center.  The park is fenced, though has always been open to my knowledge, even at very early hours.

Impressions:  The matching structures at Weccacoe are quite attractive, and inspired a imaginary fort game with a large group of children while we were there, running back and forth and climbing both decks.  I imagine this may be due to their orientation (the structures seem to face one another) and the grand height of the 5-12 deck.  It's nice to see a 2-5 structure get some use by older children, although this might be just as disruptive for younger children.  The poured rubber surface appears to be exceptionally well-installed.  It's a real surprise to feel just how soft and bouncy poured rubber can be at its best - especially under a ~10' structure.  This is my first time seeing Little Tykes in the city.  I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the structures and a few features noted above, though they are just standard post-and-deck, and don't look as though they would inspire a lot of excitement for repeat visitors.  Weccacoe Square is undoubtedly a fun and greatly improved place to play, and worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood.  

Overall Rating: 7/10

A historic site + highway: Shot Tower tot lot

Playground: Shot Tower
Location: Front and Carpenter (gate on Carpenter)
Date visited: 9/5/09

Equipment: Two playsets, not particularly separated:

• smaller has 3 slides, some climbing stuff
  
• larger has 2 slides, a straight bridge (with no real bars!), and curvy monkey/horizontal bars

Also strap and bucket (2) swings nearby.
material: modern resin and metal, a little weathered, some metal slides; scale: medium
Ages: 0-8
Surface: rubbery composite under play equipment, concrete elsewhere
Shade(0-3): 1 (some on smaller set + swings)
Water: Y*
Other: grassy (ball) field adjacent -- marked for kids 12 and under only -- benches, rec center
Access: closes at dusk, but gate has some specific hours that may or may not match that. (forgot to write them down!)

Impressions: Serviceable but uninspired play equipment (although one set of the smaller slides were quite fun), against the background din of I-95 across the street (overhead). A single water sprayer in a round pool is tucked back by the far end of the rec center, where it would be easy to miss, as are two wooden picnic tables. Probably a great resource for the neighborhood of rowhouses and newer highrises -- certainly somebody lovingly maintains a number of cheerful planters full of flowers -- but nothing one would go out of the way for. Plus: on other side of the highway underpass is a historic church with an extensive grassy churchyard that would make a nice picnic site. (They appear to have a daycare or preschool, which might generate some business for the Shot Tower park.)
Overall rating: 6

Hard to peg: Weccacoe Park

Playground: Weccacoe
Location: 4th and Catherine (entrance on Cath)
Date visited: 8/1/09

Equipment: Two assemblies, loosely divided by age:

• Smaller kids area includes 3 slides, some climbing options.
  
• Older kids area with bridge, horizontal bars, 2 slides etc.

There is also a zone with sets of bucket and strap swings.
type: modern resin; scale: large area with loosely separated zones
Ages: toddler to middle school-
Surface: rubbery composite around play structures
Shade(0-3): 1 (mostly in toddler area)
Water: N
Other: tenis courts, ping pong table (probably need own ball and paddles), rec center, extra paved play space. Queen Village Neighbors Association is headquartered in the rec. center building.
Access: dawn to dusk

Impressions: Pretty nice, seemingly underused playground, but may be effect of August vacations at time of our visit. Seems like it could hold a lot of busy kids pretty easily. Not an inspired mix of equipment -- our toddler was more interested in stomping puddles than in playing in the toddler zone. Nicely shady around the smaller kid equipment, but wide open elsewhere.
Overall rating: 6 [but hard to say without seeing usual traffic]