Valley Forge, In Search of American Revolution War History

Today I visited Valley Forge National Historic Park. I came to honor my cousin the Rev. Paul H. Goss and his ancestor Ebenezer Goss who served there. Ebenezer was a brother to my Solomon Goss and youngest son of Philip & Mary Goss. Paul wrote in one of his manuscripts that he walked Valley Forge trying to visualize what his 3rd great grandfather experienced.

The first stop was the Visitor Center where I looked at the shop and then signed up for the 1.5 hour tour of the park sites. The tour started at 1 p.m. and we first stopped at Muhlenberg Camp and listened to one of the park recreators tell us about what it meant to participate in a revolution. The cabins reminded me of logging camps. We then moved on and saw the National Monument Arch, the Pennsylvania Columns and Wayne's statue other items. They did not stay long at these instead giving us time at only two stops. The next leg of our journey was to Washington's Headquarters and we went past David Potts house. They were doing construction at Washington's Headquarters but we still were able to go inside and see what it might have been like for him. Along the way there were many deer crossing the road and in the fields. Two actually stopped us for about 5 minutes while they were on the road.

At Washington's Headquarters there were recreators out on the lawn, the Redcoats were there. Actually they had camped there at Valley Forge first before Washington made it a winter camp. One man was dressed in the red version of the Stuart colors and told me the reason the tartan on the ground was green and blue was to hide them when they were hunting. The group was eating their lunch and it smelled rather good. The tour was over and we headed back to the visitors center. I learned that the Artillery field was closed due to the construction. Ebenezer had been in the Artillery.

I set out in search of my road to Chester by driving through the park and revisiting some of the same places like the Monument arch and seeing the Pennsylvania Columns. I was soon my way to Chester my last stop on this tour of Eastern Pennsylvania. My actual wanderings were about to come to an end.

I had booked myself into the DaysInn in Chester which was a little ways from the Philadelphia airport. I drove through several towns along the way and saw many big houses and lovely settings as I made my way south. I found the Days Inn really easily and was soon having dinner at the diner next door. I settled in for the night. Wake up time 3 a.m. My flight 6:08 a.m. I have to return the rental car and get myself to the airport and get my ticket and check my bags. I hope I can do this without too much trouble. It will be dark. I do remember how to get to the car rental return because I watched Barbara, my roommate at FGS drive it very carefully when she dropped me off at the Budget Car Rental lot.