The day following Tyler Arboretum, we headed out as early as we could manage with 6 children in tow (still staying with my brother and his family) to Valley Forge National Park. The kids were immediately enamored with the cannon and might have stayed there playing with it all day if we hadn't prodded them along.
I was amazed to see the cabins that held 12 men per cabin in a roughly 14 ft x 16 ft space. It's amazing how they survived in such cramped conditions with little food, inadequate clothing, and no medicine.
Finn thought the bunks were fun to climb on, but I bet he would have changed his tune if he had to sleep on one of those rough, hard beds!
The National Memorial Arch was quite a sight to behold. I'm always fascinated with the architecture, and especially the carvings and pictures, the designers choose.
(These faces protruding from the four pillars of the monument were...um, interesting.)
Washington's Headquarters might have been my favorite part of the Valley Forge experience. The headquarter's has been restored and most of the original wood, windows, and doors are still intact.
They don't have original furniture or period pieces, understandably as the climate would destroy them, but reproductions in the various rooms that help us understand how things might have looked back then. The kids were thrilled when the tour guide told them to touch the handrail going upstairs as it's original and guaranteed that they were touching wood that George Washington touched many years ago.
The kids discovered that a small creek ran into this "little cabin" and Finn was obsessed with discussing why they might have needed that to happen.
But mostly the kids were just happy to plunge their hands into the cold stream at the end of a hot day of walking in the sun.
I love to go on these kind of excursions! I live near by but I haven't been there...yet! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThose faces... ack! That's a little freaky. Looks like another neat place to add to "the list".
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