We crossed the Schuylkill at Norristown, a little after sunrise, and took the road leading to Valley Forge by the way of "The King of Prussia Tavern," a half-way locality, famous for its good cheer long before the Revolution. There hung its sign, emblazoned with a figure of a noble-looking warrior on horseback, ancient enough in its appearance to warrant the belief that it creaked in the breeze when the officers of Howe refreshed themselves there with flip from the hands of old Harman de Vriest. * The country through which we rode is broken but fertile, every where abounding with iron. Here, also, large heaps of quarried ore flanked the road in various places, and for many furlongs the highway had a ferruginous pavement. Descending a long and steep hill, sloping northward, we came suddenly upon the little village of Valley Forge before we were aware of its proximity. It is * In the Pennsylvania Journal, 1761, there is a notification that Jacob Colman intended to run a stage, with an awning, three times a week, "from the King of Prussia Inn, to the George Inn, southwest corner of Second and Arch Streets, Philadelphia." Ritter's tavern, in Germantown, was called "The King of Prussia Inn," according to Watson, the annalist, from the following circumstance: Toward the close of the last century, Gilbert Stuart, the eminent portrait painter, resided in Germantown. In one of his eccentric moods, he executed a fine painting of the King of Prussia, on horseback, and presented it to Ritter for a sign, stipulating that the name of the painter should not be divulged. It hung there for several years, the admiration of all, until the letters "The King of Prussia Inn" were painted over it. The sign afterward came into the possession of Mr. Watson, who cherished it as a valuable memento of the genius and character of the great painter. [[[Washington's Head-quarters.--The old Flour-mill and its Associations--Hamilton and Lee.]]] {332}situated in Chester county, on the west side of the Schuylkill, between six and seven miles above Norristown, in a deep, short hollow, scooped out from a low, rugged mountain, and opening upon the great valley which stretches away toward Phoenixville. A small creek runs through the little valley, turning, in its course, the water-wheel of a cotton factory, which stands upon the site of the old forge of Isaac Potts. * [Illustration: 9342]