Walnut Hill: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Valley Forge National Historical Park

Layton, Timothy; Sargent & Lloyd; Brown, Nancy

Walnut Hill is part of Valley Forge National Historical Park (NHP), which preserves and commemorates the site of the 1777–1778 winter encampment of the main body of the Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. The park is located in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It straddles the Schuylkill River and contains land in two counties (Chester and Montgomery) and five municipalities (Lower Providence, Schuylkill, Tredyffrin, Upper Merion, and West Norriton). Originally established as Pennsylvania’s first state park in 1893, the park has been managed by the National Park Service since 1976 and now encompasses approximately 3,452 acres. The land to the north of the Schuylkill River is generally referred to as the North Side and that to the south, as the South Side. Seventy-five percent of the park lies on the South Side, which is composed of three distinct landforms: the dolomite limestone valley, quartzite hills, and red sandstone and shale river terraces. The twin peaks known as Mounts Joy and Misery visually and physically anchor the west-central portion of the South Side. These two prominent landforms were important defensive elements of the Revolutionary War encampment, providing opportunities for long views across open areas and presenting challenging terrain to intruders. The North Side covers much of the southern half of the Perkiomen Peninsula formed by the confluence of Perkiomen Creek with the Schuylkill River, and its landform is characterized by a series of fertile river terraces formed on red sandstone and shale. The pastoral landscape of this area, with open fields surrounded by forest, encompasses several former multi-generational farms. The 471-acre Walnut Hill area occupies the southwestern portion of the Perkiomen Peninsula, formed by the Schuylkill River and Perkiomen Creek. The majority of the component landscape is rural and agricultural in character. Gently rolling terrain of an upper riverine terrace characterizes the central portion of the site, and more steeply sloped escarpments edge the upland, falling away toward the river floodplain below. Visible evidence of nineteenth-century farmsteads dominate the upland knolls, while remnant features associated with transportation and conservation can be identified along the river margins. Extant features as well as known archeological resources indicate a long history of cultural use and occupation, likely dating from the Late/Transitional Archaic to Early Woodland periods. There are also late twentieth-century features associated with park development. Walnut Hill is thought to have had strong ties to the Revolutionary War-era encampment of the Continental Army across the river. However, available documentation does not always support traditional interpretations of the role of the property in the encampment. It is probable that the Walnut Hill landscape was utilized to some degree by the cantonment—guards likely were posted on the property; existing buildings may have been utilized for military or commissary officer housing, storage, and/or administrative functions; agricultural stores likely were appropriated for the troops, the Pawling family mill likely ground grains for flour; timber likely was harvested for fuel and construction materials; and a bridge connection—referred to as Sullivan’s Bridge—was constructed across the Schuylkill between the primary encampment area and the Pawling property to facilitate river crossings. During the encampment, soldiers are known to have visited the property in order to escape life in the camp and to search for food. After the construction of Sullivan’s Bridge, a market was established near the terminus on the Pawling property where soldiers were able to buy food and other materials made available by local farmers and merchants. Many of the features thought to have existed at the time are no longer extant. The existing landscape reflects past agricultural uses spanning more than two hundred and fifty years of settlement and cultivation by European immigrants, and their descendants, enslaved people, and tenant laborers. Two dwelling complexes are at least partially extant at Walnut Hill. These exhibit a layering of architectural and organizational patterns representative of eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century tastes and practices, and are supported by broad expanses of fields, hedgerows, farm lanes, fencing, and outbuildings associated with the site’s agricultural use over time. One such extant structure is an enormous stone barn. Other landscape features extant on the property are associated with eighteenth and nineteenth century transportation corridors and twentieth century industrial endeavors. These remnant features include a towpath, stone retaining walls, a lock and dam, and other stone abutments that appear to have been associated with early to middle nineteenth century canal use of the Schuylkill River; an abandoned rail line now in use as a trail; and large impoundment basins constructed in support of river-bottom dredging in the middle twentieth century to remove coal culm deposits and improve water quality. State and Federal Park development and management of the property have added another layer of landscape history to the area. On the Walnut Hill property, these contemporary interventions are limited to trails, access roads, and parking, and the erection of protective fencing around potentially hazardous sites. While some former fields have been allowed to revert to woodlands during the twentieth century, much of the landscape continues to be maintained in open cover to perpetuate the former agricultural spatial character of the property.

Walnut Hill: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Valley Forge National Historical Park

Series

Collections