Boathouse Row and the Schuylkill rowing tradition

Boathouse Row is a historic stretch of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century boathouses along the Schuylkill River that houses longstanding amateur and collegiate rowing clubs. The Schuylkill Navy, founded in 1858 and associated with clubs on Boathouse Row, is documented as the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States. The boathouses are regularly used by local rowers for early-morning training and are illuminated nightly as a neighborhood landmark.