Other Encampment Areas: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Valley Forge National Historical Park
Layton T. 2024. Other Encampment Areas: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Valley Forge National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976335. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Other Encampment Areas 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 1,654-acre Other Encampment Areas, which comprises the central and largest portion of the South Side, encompasses the land between the Schuylkill River and the park’s southern boundary and between Valley Creek on the west and the park’s eastern boundary, excluding the Port Kennedy area in the northeast corner of the South Side. A smaller portion of the Other Encampment Areas is located on the North Side. Small clusters of buildings are scattered throughout the open meadows and swaths of forest that characterize the area. Key landscape features that made Valley Forge naturally defensible, portions of the Continental Army’s earthworks systems, and the site of the Army’s parade grounds are intact within the center of the area. Several eighteenth-century farmhouses and outbuildings remain, although they present an incomplete picture of the historic agrarian landscape due to the many substantial outbuildings that are missing from the farmsteads. In addition, many park-related buildings and structures (historic and recent) are also located in this area, including visitor and maintenance facilities. Roads, bike paths, a multipurpose trail, and a horse trail carry visitors throughout the Other Encampment Areas. Many of the existing road alignments are based upon the lines of the historic settlement roads of the past. Gulph Road, County Line Road, and State Route 23 carry park, commercial, and commuter traffic into and through the area from the surrounding areas. Outer Line Drive and Inner Line Drive carry visitors from the visitor center at the eastern edge of the park along the park driving tour route. The remains of the Continental Army’s outer line of defenses, including restored and reconstructed redoubts and redans, and the remnants of the outer line defenses (archeological) are found along Outer Line Drive and overlook the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This is screened from view by dense stands of pine and meadow grasses. Along Inner Line Drive, the remains of the inner line defensive earthworks can be found. The area is heavily wooded, but views of the western fields are evident during occasional breaks in the forest undergrowth. Inner Line Drive winds along the eastern flank of Mount Joy and slowly descends near the Grand Parade, passing the cannons of Knox’s artillery park and the Redoubts #3 and #4. Various memorials, picnic sites, and parking lots are located along the roads passing through the Other Encampment Areas, particularly the Outer and Inner Line Drives. Monuments and sculpture of all shape, size, and material are located along the park thoroughfares to commemorate various brigades, generals, and other peoples and events related to the encampment and American Revolution. The National Memorial Arch, located at the intersection of Gulph Road and Outer Line Drive, is the largest of the memorials and is visible throughout much of the park. Recreated log huts are also grouped along the drives, representative of the brigade housing within the area during the encampment. The dogwoods in the Dogwood Grove and laurels and rhododendrons on Inner Line Drive are examples of plantings used to commemorate the encampment. Parking lots and pull offs are located along the roads for viewing the monuments and sculpture, the huts, the earthworks, various officers’ quarters buildings, and the distant views. The historic openness of the encampment landscape has been changed by the addition of these elements along with maturing vegetation.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Layton, Timothy
- Date of Issue
- 2024
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , VAFO
- Keywords
- 1860-1900: Memorials To The Revolution, Agricultural Outbuilding, Agriculture, Agriculture Farming For Local Markets (Dairying, Agriculture Subsistence, Agriculture/Subsistence, And Vegetables), Architecture, Architecture Exotic Revivals (1830-1860), Art, Barn, Canals, Comfort Station (Latrine), Commemoration, Conservation, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Defense, Developing the American Economy, Domestic (Residential), Engineering, Entertainment – Recreation, Exhibit, Expressing Cultural Values Architecture, Extraction or Mining Industries, Farm (Plantation), Fortification, Fruits, General Recreation, Georgian (1730-1780), Government, Government Office, Government Office Visitor Contact (Visitor Center), Hiking Trail, Historic Designed Landscape, Historic Preservation, Historic Site, Historic Vernacular Landscape, Historical Park, Historic-Non-Aboriginal Archeology, Industrial/Processing/Extraction, Iron And Ferro Alloys, Landscape, Landscape Architecture, Leisure-Passive (Park), Military, Military Facility (Post), Monument (Marker, Museum (Exhibition Hall), Other, Other Encampment Areas, Other Metals And Minerals, Parade Ground, Pedestrian-Related, Peopling Places, Period Revivals (1870-1940), Plaque), Prehistoric Archeology, Rail-Related, Railroads and Railyards, Recreation, Recreation/Culture, Regional Efforts: Mid-Atlantic States, RR Trackage, Scenic Landscape, Second Empire (1850-1890), Shaping the Political Landscape, Shipping and Transportation by Water, Single Family Dwelling, Single Family House, The American Revolution, The Declaration Of Independence, The Earliest Inhabitants: The Early Peopling Of North America, Transforming the Environment, Transportation, Transportation by Land and Air, Transportation Rail-Related Station (Depot), Valley Forge, Valley Forge National, Valley Forge State Park, Vernacular Architecture, Vista., Water-Related, Ways of Life Industrial Towns
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 300015: Valley Forge Landscape