Cooper River

The Cooper River is really a creek, designated as a River in the 1930s, to get WPA dollars for constructing a dam at Kaighn avenue in Camden. The lake behind the dam is the centerpiece of Cooper River Park. This was the culmination of a dream to build a park in the style of the City Beautiful movement. The original concept was drawn in the 1920s by Charles Leavitt. It languished for a decade with a whiff of a scandal involving wealthy citizens, land values, and municipal land purchases. The early planning turned out to be what a modern politician would term a shovel-ready project as the federal government sought infrastructure projects to bolster the economy. The dam and Park got built on the eve of WWII.

The Park has large lawns around the lake, buffering it from the surrounding roads. Across those streets are corporate buildings on one side of the lake and suburban homes on the other. Beyond the bridges defining the boundaries of this City Beautiful, inspired “civilized” section of the lake, things get unkempt. That is meant in a good way as the wildlife seems to like it. The City Beautiful portion of the Park is enjoyable, much in the same way as Central Park or Washington’s National Mall are lovely but with the added benefit of water sports. There are rowing and sailing clubs on the lake.

 Kayaks, rowing shells, sailboats, and dragon boats share the lake: a yacht club and boathouse on opposite sides of the lake support all of this. Charles Leavitt’s design, appropriating a stream to consciously create a park, seems to resonate a century later.

June 2021