SV First Light

ISM is proud to be part of Philadelphia’s 5𝟐 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐬! Philly didn’t just make history, we made it First. From the first zoo, to the first slinky, every week will bring a new story, Saturday Firstival, and a giant #1 statue.

ISM’s 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 will be taking place on 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟑𝟎!

From 𝟏𝟏 𝐀𝐌 – 𝟓 𝐏𝐌, join ISM and the Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee and celebrate the achievements of the first steamboat with passenger and freight alongside the Delaware River.
Let off some steam at this full day of festivities. Family-friendly activities, pop-up steam engine talks, and added tours onboard Olympia, and fun in the Seaport Boat Shop. Learn all about the power of steam through STEAM and history provided by ISM. Our friends from the Philadelphia Historic District 250th Committee will be bringing storytelling and performances between 11 AM and 1 PM, and all other activities will run throughout the day. Make sure to carve out some time to stop and see the ONE sculpture that was designed by Gwenn Seemel. It will be showcased at the museum through the end of the year.

⚓ Learn more and purchase tickets on our website! https://www.phillyseaport.org/events/firstival-first-steamboat-for-passengers-and-freight/

A few miles from Fort Sumter, where the U.S. Civil War began a year earlier, in Charleston, South Carolina, a military transport steamship called Planter was moored. Early on May 13, 1862, enslaved Black man and naval pilot Robert Smalls stole that ship and took himself and several others to freedom.

--On This Day in History S**t Went Down: May 13, 1862--

This was a fu***ng caper. For several months Smalls was the trusted pilot for the Planter because he acted all yes I’m so very happy to be considered your property and not an actual human being; I would never dream of anything so foolish as being free. All the while he plotted, bringing the other enslaved crew into his confidence about his plans to escape.

On the evening of May 12, the white officers departed the ship for their homes. The Black crew stayed aboard to care for the ship. A few hours after midnight, the seven Black crew said let’s get the f**k out of here and steamed away from the dock. A guard watched it happen and just assumed a white dude was in charge. The ship stopped quickly at another wharf to pick up nine family members, wives and children, and everyone aboard was rightfully terrified about what faced them next.

The ship was lightly armored; it could have been blown to bits by Confederate artillery in moments. Regardless, Smalls donned a wide-brimmed hat and pretended to be the rightful white captain and confidently piloted Planter past heavily armored fortifications while the other crewmen shook with fear. The women and children hid belowdecks, crying and praying for deliverance. Passing Fort Sumter, Smalls gave the whistle signal of a “friendly” and a sentry called out “Blow the damned Yankees to hell,” to which Smalls replied, “Aye, aye!”

The final terror was heading toward the Union blockade line and not being blown to s**t for being a Confederate ship. The crew removed their Confederate flag and hoisted a white bedsheet to signal surrender. After a tense few moments the Union ship, named Onward, accepted their surrender and the sixteen were free. The Planter’s cargo hold was loaded with four large guns for transport to Sumter. Upon meeting the captain of the Onward Smalls said, “Good morning, sir! I’ve brought you some of the old United States guns, sir!”

Smalls remained in command of the Planter, piloting it to a Union enclave where it became a Union warship. Only 23 years old, he became a public figure and a hero in the North and was instrumental in convincing President Lincoln to permit Black soldiers to serve the Union in the war. He served in the navy until 1868, and a decade after the war ended, Smalls was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for South Carolina. He died in 1915 at the age of 75.

NOTE: This piece was researched and written by a human, not some bulls**t "ai" plagiarism software.

Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “f**k” a lot. Get both volumes of ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY S**T WENT DOWN at JamesFell.com/books.

Curious about our future plans for the impoundment (the big lake/pond) and the work we’re doing to both restore tidal marsh and improve flood resiliency in our communities? Come on down and join us for our Impoundment Restoration Public Meeting!

We will discuss updates for the impoundment restoration project and other nature-based solutions projects, and open the room for questions and feedback.

We will be meeting virtually on Wednesday 5/13 from 6-7:30pm AND in-person Saturday 5/16 from 10am - 12pm in the Visitor Center.

Please email [email protected] or [email protected] to RSVP and get the link for the virtual meeting. Walk-ins welcome at the in-person meeting 🤗

Image description: Flyer with satellite image of the impoundment and details for the event. Image shows conceptual draft of what the impoundment could look like once restored to tidal marsh.

The cruise terminal is not ready yet, but the boats are here. You're unlikely to see one of the boats from the city because the terminal is next to the airport, but if you take a trip down to Fort Mifflin you can help man the ramparts! 😆

Cruise ship Norwegian Jewel arrives in Philadelphia, 1st to set sail from the city in 15 years The Norwegian Jewel, the first cruise ship to set sail from the Port of Philadelphia in 15 years, arrived in the city early Thursday morning.

The much-anticipated inaugural cruise from the new PhilaPort cruise terminal is scheduled to set sail in just weeks. But the facility near Philadelphia International Airport in Tinicum Township is nowhere near ready, raising concerns and questions for thousands of travelers. https://6abc.com/post/construction-delays-philaport-passengers-set-sail/18742016/

If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan to renovate Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia might have proceeded without significant opposition. Workplace lockdowns and virtual schooling drove people outdoors to get some exercise and socialize in the fresh air. In South Philadelphia, many of them found the park’s shuttered golf course and fell in love with the landscape of meadows, picturesque trees and marshy water features, calling it the “South Philly Meadows.”

“To my delight, I discovered we have wilderness coming back in South Philly, a 10-minute bike ride from my house,” says Rich Garella, who lives in South Philadelphia and has been visiting FDR Park since he was a child.

Fans such as Garella and Anisa George were horrified to learn that the Meadows were mostly doomed. The park’s master plan called for parts of the Meadows to be excavated to create wetlands. Other sections would be filled and graded to create 16 playing fields, surfaced with synthetic turf and doubling as stormwater buffers, with storage tanks built underneath. All the trees in the way would be felled. Fans of the abandoned golf course formed a group called Save the Meadows to advocate for the space.

Garella, George and eight others filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia Orphans’ Court on March 25, 2024, to force the City to stop the renovation and restore the park to its pre-renovation state. “The overall thing is we want to stop the bleeding,” says George. “We don’t want any more trees to be cut. We don’t want toxic turf, and we want a pause in the plan. We’d like a better plan.”

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2026/04/04/south-phillys-fdr-park-renovation-proceeds-as-lawsuit-challenges-its-legality/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Tracie Van Auken