We were a little late getting started on our 120 mile drive to Valley Forge but still arrived a little after 11 am. First stop was the Visitor Center. After watching a film about General Washington and the Valley Forge encampment we set out on the auto tour of the park.
First stop was the soldier huts. I had recalled seeing something like cabins when I visited in 1959 and again in 1968. Nothing seemed really familiar.
I had asked the docent at the Visitor Center about cabins and he said all they built were huts. I was puzzled as I had remembered cabins. Once I saw these it was clear it was just a matter of terminology. Still, I didn't remember them being on a ridge.
There were twelve men assigned to each unit and they built their own cabins/huts. Each side has 6 bunks. Washington offered $12 to the first unit to complete their cabin as an incentive to get them in relatively decent structures. In addition there was competition between units. Most of them were completed within a month.
At the beginning of the encampment there were approximately 11,000 soldiers and the army was down to about 6,000 by spring due to desertions, enlistment being up and sickness/disease. For every soldier lost in combat, 10 died from sickness and disease.
When we approached General Washington's Headquarters we saw what looked like a train station with two sets of tracks in front of it. Linda and I both wondered why the tracks were so close to a historical spot. We ask a ranger and he explained that the Reading Railroad was built in 1836 through the valley and along the stream bed. It was just a whistle stop until after 1900 when the hill was built up and this station was built. It is now BNSF rails and there is no longer passenger traffic.
I also asked how long the park has been like it is today. He said that land was added and much of the new facilities were put in when it became a National Park in 1976. Before that about all that was here was the General's Headquarters and the few cabins you see nearby. That is what I remember and now know why.
General Washington rented this home for his headquarters. He didn't move into it from his tent until all the men were in cabins/huts. Leadership!
The side structure is the kitchen. Martha joined him here for about three months during the winter of 1777-1778.
The General's bedroom.
A bedroom for staff officers or guests. The covering was heavy in the winter to keep body heat in.
These are the cabins I remember seeing or ones like them.
Back in Gettysburg we went into town for dinner or just something to eat. That is about all we got at the place we chose. It was not the greatest of choices. The place we wanted to dine at was closed again.
So we thought we should get a few picture of the center of Gettysburg.
The traffic circle in the center of town is like putting your vehicle and life at risk because not may yield as they are supposed to do. It is more like a free for all with the bold squeezing through first.
The brick building on the right is where Abraham Lincoln stayed the night before giving the Gettysburg address.
Gettysburg Hotel and other buildings around the circle.
Tomorrow we will go south into Virginia. The weather remains perfect.
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