Today was the day to slow down a little. We visited Valley Forge in the morning and when the heat started to become too much, we headed home. But before the heat became uncomfortable, we had a wonderful morning exploring the Valley Forge area. Since the summer officially ended on Labor Day (September 1), many of
the scheduled talks weren't active. But that also meant that when we
took the driving tour of the area, we only encountered a couple of other
people. Just our speed especially after spending the few previous days
in the city that was teeming with people.
Valley Forge is the site of a seven month encampment of George Washington and over 10,000 soldiers during the winter of 1777-1778. They have reconstructed much of the area from written records and archeological digs.
A few pictures from our visit to Valley Forge.
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| Ward entering the very nice visitor's center. He was disappointed that he didn't have time to read every display. He's the kind that reads everything. I'm more of a skimmer. |
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| A representative of the huts the men lived in during the winter. |
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| There was a bare minimum in these huts--12 bunks and a fire place. Here's Theo trying out one of the bunks. |
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| National Memorial Arch dedicated in 1917 to the people of the Valley Forge encampment. For an idea of scale, you can see Ward, Wally, and Theo under it. |
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| George Washington's headquarters during the encampment. The house was a rental property of Mr. Potts, who made his money from iron forges around the Vally Stream. (Thus the name, Valley Forge.) |
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| George Washington statue. For those of you into symbolism, there is a lot of it in this statue such as he is holding a walking stick where there would normally be a sword. You can ponder that for a moment and come to your own conclusion as to what it means. |
