Visions of a revived, visible, much-visited Glen Foerd

Glen Foerd is the only riverfront estate in Philadelphia still open to the public, and it's a beauty.

So you'd think this 25-room, 19th-century Italianate mansion on 18 green acres along the Delaware, tucked into the farthest tip of the Far Northeast, would be drawing crowds. And it does, if you're talking wedding reception or anniversary party; there are more than 100 of those a year.

A new executive director thinks this little-known treasure deserves a prominent place on the tourist circuit, too. She's determined to get the word out - and the public in.

"We have no real profile now," says Meg Sharp Walton, who was hired in late 2010 after a decade as curator and museum consultant for the National Museum of Industrial History and Historic Bethlehem (Pa.) Partnership.

A near-complete strategic plan suggests increasing programming and hours. Tours are now limited, and while there are public events - Irish day, lunch with the Easter bunny, talks on decorative arts, outdoor summer concerts - there hasn't been enough emphasis on what Walton calls "the Glen Foerd legacy of nature, horticulture, and the arts.

"We have a really rich history we can tap into," she says, citing a forthcoming art show and expanded programs on classical music, gardening, and history.

The mansion's history begins in 1850 with Charles Macalester, a Philadelphia financier who named his new estate Glengarry, for the family home in Scotland. (Macalester also changed the neighborhood's name from Risdon's Ferry, for the ferry that operated on the river here, to Torresdale, after Torrisdale, his old hunting lodge.)

At this time, according to local historian Frank W. Hollingsworth, "Torresdale was a very wealthy enclave, full of industrialists. It was the power-point location for the city of Philadelphia."

Macalester's successor fit the demographic. Robert H. Foerderer made a fortune in high-fashion goatskin leather. Also a U.S. congressman and phone company president, he called the estate Glen Foerd, a combination of Glengarry and Foerderer. He also doubled the size of the house, adding a dining room and art gallery.

The Foerderer era extended to 1971, when Robert's daughter, Florence Foerderer Tonner, died. She'd lived there with her husband and two children, and these were Glen Foerd's best years. The house was a showplace, the grounds impeccably planted and maintained. Florence's favorite hybrid tea roses graced the formal gardens, and the family's art collection significantly expanded.