A guide book of art, architecture, and historic interests in Pennsylvania
History
A guide book of art, architecture, and historic interests in Pennsylvania
Architecture -- Pennsylvania; Art -- Pennsylvania; Historic buildings -- Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania -- Guidebooks; Pennsylvania -- History
Baron von Steuben came from Germany with his secretary, Peter S. Du
Ponceau, after having served as aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great; he
was appointed inspector general of the American army, and gave them
military training and discipline; Mrs. Washington came to Valley Forge
February 27, 1778; on May 18, a detachment under Marquis de Lafayette
moved to Barren Hill, but the British came in force against them, and
they retreated over Matson’s ford, Conshohocken, on a bridge of rafts;
on June 18, British evacuated Philadelphia, June 19, Washington and army
left Valley Forge in pursuit.
A marker is placed where General Sullivan and soldiers built a bridge
across the Schuylkill in 1778;
[Illustration: MONTGOMERY COUNTY]
redoubts and intrenchments have been restored; every point of interest
has been marked with granite tablets by various historical societies,
and by the states whose sons suffered here; bronze equestrian statue of
General Anthony Wayne, sculptor, H. K. Bush-Brown, made, 1908, marks
site of cantonment of his troops; near this is replica of a brigade
hospital, a soldier’s hut; and the bronze statue of General Friederich
Wilhelm von Steuben, granite pedestal with bronze relief; sculptor, J.
Otto Schweizer, erected, 1915, by National German-American Alliance.
National Memorial Arch, one of the most beautiful structures of its
kind, granite, designed by Paul P. Cret, was erected by the United
States Government in 1914, as a tribute to General Washington and his
regiments.
Washington’s headquarters (home of Isaac Potts), open daily, 8 A.M. to 6
P.M., is arranged as when he occupied it; Washington Inn was used as
army bakery during encampment, ovens in basement, originally home of
Colonel William Dewees, sheriff of Philadelphia, and owner, with John
Potts, of the forge; the Star Redoubt; the Defenders’ Gate; Cemetery;
and View from observatory on Mount Joy are interesting; Museum of
American History contains rare relics of Washington and the war.
Washington Memorial Protestant Episcopal chapel, and the Cloister of the
Colonies, in which each of the thirteen colonies will be represented by
a bay, in the center of each is the colonial seal in brass; ceiling,
hand carved oak, in the central boss of each, the state coat of arms;
the Cloister incloses the Garth in which is a bronze statue, “Sacrifice
and Devotion,” by Bela Pratt, in honor of the mothers of the nation;
the porch gates were wrought by Samuel Yellin, hammered in the iron are
the symbols of the four Evangelists, the lock has a miniature Liberty
Bell as a keeper, and the sliding bolt passes through the knapsack of a
Continental soldier, guarding the lock; windows in the chapel from
D’Ascenzo Studios. Waterman Monument marks the grave of only identified
soldier buried here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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