A few months ago, just out of curiosity, I googled the distance from my new house to Valley Forge. I probably didn’t even know Valley Forge was in Pennsylvania, but I knew it was the site of the Revolutionary Army’s famous winter encampment of 1777-78. Much to my delight, I discovered that I live only an HOUR away! One hour!

My first thought was, “Awesome!” My second thought was, “Oh no, just how cold is this winter going to be?” because that winter of 1777 is infamous for being snow covered and freezing. I did not realize I was living quite that close to such a location.

The perfect opportunity came to drag my entire family over to Valley Forge just a week ago. They were a reluctant lot I am sorry to tell you, as they did not share my zeal for American history in the cold.

I am also sorry to report that I do not in fact live only an hour from Valley Forge. Either Google maps was wrong, or I remembered incorrectly, but the trip turned out to be more like an hour and a half. Ah well, it was a lovely trip through pretty countryside anyway. Maryland and Pennsylvania, once you leave the large cities, are beautiful states of rolling hills of farms with barns and silos.

It was cold and windy the day that we went, with snow from the last snowstorm still on the ground, which all added up to make it the perfect day to visit such a place.

We pulled into a large parking lot of the Valley Forge National Historic Park, bundled up tightly in our coats and gloves, and headed down a windy path to see General George Washington’s headquarters. I should also mention that right away we were all having a good time. My family can be strongly resistant to heading out on adventures that I want to take them on, but once they get there, they always have fun.

Valley Forge is a national park, and everything we saw was free. There is an official visitor’s center, but it was closed for construction until spring, so we did miss out on that.

You walk down this long, windy sidewalk ramp path to the large building at the bottom. At first, we thought that was Washington’s headquarters, but it is not. The first large building is actually the old Reading Railroad train station, and it has a plaque or two up about that.

Going places as a family is always amusing. I heard Alan command the boys, “Don’t throw snow. There are small children ahead.” I think someone who wasn’t listening still threw snow, which thankfully didn’t hit anyone. It was old, hard, and crunchy snow. Alan also had to say, I mean he truly had to say it because someone must have tasted it, “Don’t eat snow that is this old.” Sigh. The things we have to say!

Then we went inside the old train station, and it has several information stations about Washington’s winter at Valley Forge, complete with documentary/ reenactment videos. The boys watched the videos with a surprising level of interest. Although, at one point, John David did look up at me and ask, “Can we just go? I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Daniel, who is like our little general, he is so thoroughly interested in all things military and police, soaked this up like a sponge. He actually came home and asked to watch more YouTube videos about Valley Forge.

I read a plaque to the boys about Billy Lee, and John David waved it off saying, “Okay. I know,” to which I said, “No. You did not know that Billy Lee was the only slave that Washington freed.”

There was more information there than our troop had patience to take in, but we browsed it all, and then marched on to the actual headquarters.

One of the best things to me about the headquarters is that this is the actual building, not a reconstructed symbol, but the real deal. This house is around 250 years old, and by American standards, that is a rare find.

“…it is very certain that half the army is almost naked, in a great measure bare-footed.”

Johann de Kalb to Comte de Broglie, Valley Forge, Christmas Day 1777

The Huts

General Washington instructed all the men in his army to construct for themselves huts according to this exact pattern. They had to be uniform, and these were much nicer than tents for keeping out the cold. A whole forest was taken down to build these, and when the war was over, local farmers quickly deconstructed the little houses to use the wood, and the farm land became farm land again. Washington later visited the site and was pleased to see that it had not been permanently ruined but was once again usable for farming.

After this, we hiked back to our car. During the hike, my feet reminded me that I do still have plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. Oh well, you can’t keep a good man down, right?

We loaded up in the car and drove up an area that was either a seriously large hill or a mountain, but it was the center of where the regular soldiers camped that winter of 1777-78, and it was the extremely cold, shaded, unmelted snow side of the mountain too.

Driving Through the Entrenchments

I would say things like, “What mound? I mean, I don’t really see a mound, but whatever.”

Training for War

During that winter at Valley Forge, the men fought disease like small pox and shortages of clothes and food, but they also trained to become a better fighting Army. Washington brought in a man named Baron von Steuben to train his Army. Here is what von Steuben had to say about them, according to the Valley Forge historic park website:

the entire system of drill, evolutions, maneuvers, discipline, tactics, and Prussian formation into our Army. I should have been pelted had I attempted it, and should inevitably have failed. The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared with that of the Prussians, Austrians, or French. You say to your soldier [in Europe], “Do this” and he doeth it; but [at Valley Forge] I am obliged to say, “This is the reason why you ought to do that,” and then he does it. 

— Baron von Steuben to Baron de Gaudy, 1787-88

Then we came to this one area that had a cannon and a pavilion with information, so we all got out there and checked it out. This one was highly visible. You could easily tell where the giant trenches had been dug. The soldiers dug all sorts of things, but most of it was restored to normalcy after the war. In this particular area, it was left alone.

This park would be a wonderful place to go walking, as it has miles of paths, well tended and paved, but we were not looking to make a whole day of it, so we mostly drove.

After seeing the cannons, we drove around to see a few more historical markers and then headed back home, with a nice stop for ice cream on the way, of course.

Want to learn more or plan a trip to Valley Forge for yourself? Click here to visit the official park website.

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