VALLEY FORGE (Mark)

​The tiny simple hut in the left foreground housed six freezing, starving soldiers of the Continental Army.  

In the background is the huge and ornate marble arch dedicated to their suffering.

The soldiers and militia never could have imagined this monument to them.  I believe all they could think about was trying to stay warm, and to find something to eat - and the belief that they could beat the world’s most dominant army and win their freedom.

I love our National Parks.  As I sat and contemplated the Memorial Arch on this day of remembrance, I realized that without Valley Forge, this particular Park, we would not have any of the others.

What those men who suffered through the winter accomplished was the start of a nation.

​A number of the huts throughout the valley have been restored.  As I walked up to them I was amazed how small they were.  I definitely had to duck to get through the doors.  ​Inside I could stand up only in the centerlines.

​​You can see three of the bunks reconstructed here.

This shelter would have held a dozen men.  Keeping the huts small and the men bunched together would have been the most efficient for heating.

It also led to disease roaring through the camp. Washington led approximately 12,000 men at Valley Forge at the start of the winter.  Almost 2,000 died while encamped here.

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​The higher officers had some of the local houses as their quarters, much nicer than the huts the men constructed.  This building housed Major General William Alexander and Major James Monroe, who became our fifth President, as well as some more junior officers and staff.

Other staff lived in the smaller building to the right of the main house.

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The weather was absolute perfection today, about 78 degrees with a wonderful breeze blowing the half-staff flags.  The men who spent the cold winter here could only have dreamed about such a day.

​You can tour the 3,500 acres of grounds on foot or bicycle on peaceful trails, or with your car.  The quiet here at the park was amazing; the only sound the breeze in the grass and trees, and the crickets.

​This is the small but beautiful Washington Memorial Chapel:

It is still in use, and open to the public.​ I went inside and sat in the quiet, watching the shadows of the clouds sailing overhead change the shading on the stained-glass windows.

Different states have erected monuments to the men from their own states, soldiers and militia who endured the winter here in 1777-1778.  ​This is from the State of New Jersey:

In the courtyard of the Washington Memorial is this statue memorializing the women who lost husbands and sons in the Valley:

The canons at Valley Forge have been silent for 247 years.  The men who encamped here had little.  A worn musket or rifle, rags for clothes, and a threadbare blanket.  They suffered constant cold and hunger, disease and uncertainty.

​But they had a dream of freedom, and a better country in which to live and raise their families in.  It is up to us to keep that dream alive.   

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