While we were on our quick trip to Pennsylvania, we made our first stop at Valley Forge. It was a beautiful site with an amazing feeling. We had a great morning there and definitely suggest that everyone take a chance to go see it.
How to Get There:
Valley Forge is pretty easy to get to. Because it is a historically significant site, there are signs that direct you pretty easily to the site. Once you’re there, we suggest starting the auto tour, especially if you get there before the visitor’s center opens. You can find a map for the tour here.
What You Will See:
We started our day with the auto tour. We saw a lot of sites along the way, while we didn’t stop at every single one, we did stop at a few that we felt had the most significance.
Redoubt
This was the first stop we made (stop #2 on the route). Redoubt had a small parking lot to leave your car and then you cross the street and you can see inside the cabins that were made by the men who camped at Valley Forge. If you listen to the audio guide by dialing the phone number and entering in the correct code, it gives you some nice information about the history of this site.
National Memorial Arch
The National Memorial Arch was stop #3 on the auto tour. We parked and were able to walk up and around the arch. We were able to learn about some of the symbolism and the history of the arch by listening to the audio guide.
Varnum’s Quarters
Stop #8 on the tour and again, we parked and got out of our car, then we headed down a short path to see Varnum’s home. During the summer months there are tours available of the home. Sadly when we were there a few days after they had closed the tours for the season.
Washington Memorial Chapel
This was the last stop on the tour and it was our favorite place. It has beautiful grounds and has the cutest little chapel. It reminded us a lot of the chapels we went to in Europe.
Visitor’s Center
At the visitor’s center, there are a few exhibits you can look at to give you more history and context of Valley Forge. There is also a movie that you can see. The film starts every hour and the theater is outside of the actual visitor’s center. You just go upstairs and head to the left and you will see a building that has signs for the theater.
Sum Up:
Valley Forge is a great historic site that only takes a few hours to tour. You can take longer though if you want to. There are lots of trails to walk and bike on that go all over the park. It is such a beautiful area and definitely worth the time to stop.
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