A Second National Park Visit in the Same Day!

We’d started the day by visiting Roadside America in Shartlesville Pennsylvania.  Then we made the short drive south from that attraction to the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site.  From here, the plan called for us to drive north to Stroudsburg for the night…

Well my better half had other ideas.  Since it was still only early afternoon, she decided that we should explore as much as we could of one more National Park in Pennsylvania… So off we went!

Using the most direct roads, but not necessarily the fastest route, it’s about a 45 minute drive from Hopewell Furnace to Valley Forge National Historical Park near the city of King of Prussia.

Of course most Americans know (or should know) that Valley Forge is the site of a critical winter encampment of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. (Winter of 1777 – 1778) This 3,500 acre park preserves the site and interprets the history of the encampment.  The park includes some historical buildings, recreated structures, memorials, museums and recreational facilities.  It is visited by over 1,200,000 people each year.

This life size model of General George Washington, on his horse "Blueskin", is on prominent display in the visitor’s center.  This facility provides visitors with an overall orientation for the park.  A film entitled “Valley Forge: A Winter Encampment” provides key information for visitors. 

Other features of the visitor center include a museum with many items from the period on display.  This includes artifacts found during excavations of the park, an interactive muster roll of Continental soldiers encamped at Valley Forge and a photo gallery as well as a visitor information desk.

The park offers ranger-led gallery programs and walks, a storytelling program, 90-minute Trolley tours of the park and seasonal bike rentals as well as a driving ‘trail’ plus miles of hiking trails.  Of course, there also is the “Encampment Store” for books and souvenirs.

Here and there in the Park are a number of reconstructed log cabins of the type thought to be used during the encampment.  This grouping, 9 huts in all, were home for the Muhlenberg Brigade.  The brigade was led by Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg, a former Lutheran pastor.  His troops saw action in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.

Each of the huts would house a dozen soldiers.  The quality of the huts’ construction varied greatly and had a large impact on the comfort and survival rate of the troops inhabiting them.  Soldiers from the south, unfamiliar with the northern winters, tended to have the most poorly constructed huts.
 

Congress had great difficulty in supporting the war effort.  They couldn’t fully supply the army, which had been plagued by food shortages and less than adequate clothing and equipment from the beginning of the war.  Disease such as the flu and typhoid spread throughout the camp and killed almost 2,000 people.

 

The Valley Forge encampment was home to 12,000 soldiers and 400 women.  During that winter, it became the fourth largest city in America!  There were 1,500 log huts and 2 miles of fortifications… Soldiers had cleared forests for many miles in all directions for wood to build their huts and to build fires for warmth and to cook their food.

 

There are a number of memorials throughout the park.  For example, there is the National Memorial Arch, a number of monuments for different detachments of soldiers from various states, another dedicated to Patriots of African American Descent, a statue for General Frederick William Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben and this one, which commemorates Anthony Wayne.  

Unfortunately, General “Mad” Anthony Wayne is too often remembered only for his nickname.  Actually, he earned this appellation because of his temper, not that he was crazy or reckless.  His military record is notable.  He studied and learned from military history.  He was organized and did his best to take care of his men.  He wanted to be in the center of the battle where danger was the greatest and he believed that success was more dependent on the positive attitude of the troops than on the number of men on the battlefield.  General Washington held him in high regard.  To learn more, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Wayne.  

As regards General von Steuben, his accomplishments at Valley Forge and beyond may have saved the army and as the result was responsible for its victories following the winter encampment.  This professional Prussian soldier became Inspector General of the Continental Army with the rank of Major General.   To learn more just go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Steuben.  

With limited time left in our day, we decided to focus on Washington’s Headquarters… We parked in the designated parking area but this building that’s also within the Valley Forge National Historic Park was totally unexpected!  This is the Valley Forge Train Station.  It was completed in 1911 by the Reading Railroad.  It was a point of entry to the park for visitors who came from Philadelphia, which is only about 24 miles away.  It was in operation through the 1950s.

This is the former ticket window in the Valley Forge depot.  

Constructed of the same type stone as Washington’s Headquarters, the depot was built on a man-made embankment overlooking the site of the headquarters.  The station was restored in 2009 and it’s now being used as a museum and information center designed to offer a better understanding of the headquarters and the Village of Valley Forge. 

There isn’t any passenger service at the Valley Forge Depot these days but there are 2 high traffic rails that pass by the station.  This Norfolk Southern freight train barreled by as we arrived...

This is what Washington’s Headquarters looks like as photographed from a vantage point at the depot.  When the house was occupied by General Washington in 1777, it was only 8 or 9 years old.  It had been built ca. 1768 – 1770 by Issac Potts, a Quaker who owned a nearby grist mill. 

This 2-story stone home is 3 bays wide with a single story portion (the kitchen) at the left.  It is a solid and handsome home! 

For most of the 6 month encampment, Washington lived in this home, meeting with his generals and advisers as they struggled to maintain the army through the winter and as they planned for the continuation of the Revolutionary War in the spring of 1778. 

Standing in this office was a little surreal… Think about it!  This was the place where General Washington, (our future first President) and his high ranking officers lived and worked.  The fate of the Continental Army and the American Revolution itself was in the balance!  Washington’s office has been recreated to look much as it did during his stay at Valley Forge.

George Washington was never alone during the encampment.  For several months he was joined by his wife Martha.  They were 2 of the up to 25 people who would have been living inside the house.  This group would have included servants, aides and part of his general staff.  There is evidence that a log annex had been constructed adjoining the house to accommodate all of the necessary people supporting Washington and his staff. 

This is the kitchen that’s contained in the single-story section of Washington’s Headquarters.

These photos show 2 bedrooms in what must have been very crowded quarters in Washington’s Headquarters.  Of course, in comparison to the solder's huts, this was pure luxury!  

What is sad to report is that there are several homes/structures within Valley Forge Historical Park that are not open to the public.  Why?  It’s all about their state of disrepair.  The National Park Service is regularly underfunded by Congress…one of the reasons that the Park Service recently raised admission charges in some of our most iconic National Parks.  As I see it, they had no choice.

So which historical sites in Valley Forge are closed to the public?  They include Lord Stirling’s Quarters, Knox’s Quarters, the Von Steuben Memorial, the P.C. Knox Estate, Kennedy-Supplee Mansion and Potts’ Barn.

To learn more about the Valley Forge National Historical Park, just click on https://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm.  For additional historical details, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge.  

    

We were very happy that we made this ‘side trip’!  By time we finished visiting Washington’s Headquarters, it was rush hour and with road construction complicating the mass of traffic, we began our early evening’s northward trek toward Stroudsburg Pennsylvania at the edge of the Pocono Mountains.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for joining us on our tour of Valley Forge!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave