Washington's Headquarters | |
Location | Valley Forge National Historical Park |
---|---|
Nearest city | Valley Forge, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 40°6′5″N75°27′43″W / 40.10139°N 75.46194°W |
Architect | Potts, Isaac |
Architectural style | Georgian |
Part of | Valley Forge (ID66000657) |
NRHP reference No. | 73001655 |
Significant dates | |
Washington's home | 1777 |
Added to NRHP | February 11, 1973 [1] |
Designated NHL | November 28, 1972 [2] |
Designated NHLDCP | January 20, 1961 |
Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge, also known as the Isaac Potts House, is a historic house that served as General George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge during the American Revolutionary War. The building, which still stands, is one of the centerpieces of Valley Forge National Historical Park in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The house was built about 1773, and Washington made it his headquarters during the Continental Army encampment between December 1777 and June 1778. The restored building is part of the Valley Forge National Historical Park and is open to the public. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972. [2] [3]
The house is located in Upper Merion Township. [4] [5]
Washington's Valley Forge Headquarters stands between Pennsylvania Route 23 and the Schuylkill River near the center of Valley Forge National Historical Park. It is a three-story stone structure with a full cellar, three bays wide, with a side gable roof. A single-story ell extends to the left. The main entrance is in the left-most bay, sheltered by a gabled hood. There is a secondary entrance on the right end wall. The gable ends have pent roofs below, and circular windows in the gable center. [3] The interior is decorated with period 18th-century furnishings and artifacts related to George Washington.
The house was built 1768–70 by Isaac Potts, a Quaker who operated a grist mill nearby. George Washington, and later his wife Martha as well, occupied this house from Christmas Eve 1777 until June 18, 1778. Washington conducted the army's business in an office on the ground floor during that period. [3] The house became part of a state park in 1893, which was given to the people of the United States by Pennsylvania in 1976. [6]
The Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge, [7] led by Founding Regent Anna Morris Holstein, [8] was incorporated in 1878 with the purpose of saving, acquiring, preserving General Washington's Headquarters [9] and immediate surrounding acreage. A large Centennial event to create awareness and raise funds was held on June 19, 1878, the 100th anniversary of Washington's Army exiting Valley Forge. [10]
The Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement. It is located on the west side of Valley Forge National Historical Park at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. The remaining village is in Schuylkill Township of Chester County. It once spanned Valley Creek into Montgomery County. The name Valley Forge is often used to refer to anywhere in the general vicinity of the park. Many places will use the name even though they are actually in King of Prussia, Trooper, Oaks, and other nearby communities. This leads to some ambiguity on the actual location of the modern village. There is a partial re-creation of the historic village from the time of the American Revolution that is located just within the outskirts of the park.
Louis Antoine Jean Le Bègue de Presle Duportail was a French military leader who served as a volunteer and the Chief Engineer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He also served as the last Secretary of State for War and first Minister of War during the beginning of the French Revolution.
Valley Forge National Historical Park is the site of the third winter encampment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. The National Park Service preserves the site and interprets the history of the Valley Forge encampment. The park contains historical buildings, recreated encampment structures, memorials, museums, and recreation facilities.
"Middlebrook encampment" may refer to one of two different seasonal stays of the Continental Army in central New Jersey near the Middlebrook in Bridgewater Township in Somerset County. They are usually differentiated by either the date of the encampment or their chronological order.
Pennsylvania was the site of many key events associated with the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. The city of Philadelphia, then capital of the Thirteen Colonies and the largest city in the colonies, was a gathering place for the Founding Fathers who discussed, debated, developed, and ultimately implemented many of the acts, including signing the Declaration of Independence, that inspired and launched the revolution and the quest for independence from the British Empire.
Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War.
The King of Prussia Inn is a historic tavern in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The General Friedrich Von Steuben Headquarters is a historic house on Pennsylvania Route 23 in Valley Forge National Historical Park in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Built about 1770, it has been advanced as a possible residence of Baron Friedrich von Steuben (1730-1794), the Prussian drill-master of Continental Army troops during the 1777-78 Valley Forge encampment. The house, which is a partial reconstruction, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
Moland House is an old stone farmhouse built around 1750, by John Moland, a Philadelphia and Bucks County lawyer. Although physically located in Hartsville, Warwick Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, its mailing address is in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania.
Camp-Woods, is a historic estate with associated buildings located at Villanova, Delaware County, Pennsylvania and built on a 400 ft (120 m) high spot which had been a 200-man outpost of George Washington's Army during the Valley Forge winter of 1777–78. The house, built between 1910 and 1912 for banker James M. Willcox, is a two-story, brick and limestone, "F"-shaped house in an Italianate-Georgian style. It measures 160 ft (49 m) in length and 32 ft (9.8 m) deep at the "waist." It has a slate roof, Doric order limestone cornice, open loggia porches, and a covered entrance porch supported by Doric order columns. The house was designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926). The property includes formal gardens. Its former carriage house is no longer part of the main estate. The original tennis court is now also a separate property named "Outpost Hill". The Revolutionary encampment is marked by a flagpole in a circular stone monument at the north-western edge of the property. The inscription reads, "An outpost of George Washington's Army encamped here thro the winter of Valley Forge 1777-1778".
Hanging Rock, also known as Overhanging Rock, or locally as Drummond's head, is a historic natural feature which is located in Gulph Mills, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is a large natural outcropping of phyllite that protrudes approximately eight feet over a roadway, Pennsylvania Route 320, which was laid out as a public highway between 1711 and 1712.
The Moses Coates Jr. Farm, also known as Meadow Brook Farm, is an historic, American home and farm complex that is located in Schuylkill Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Moore Hall, also known as the William Moore House, is an historic, American home that is located in Schuylkill Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Cressbrook Farm, also known as the Former Quarters of Brigadier General Duportail, is a historic home located in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The original house was built about 1745, and it has been enlarged several times since the main portion was added in 1825. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, five-bay, stuccoed stone structure. During the American Revolution the house served as headquarters for Brigadier General Louis Lebègue Duportail in late 1777 and early 1778, during the encampment at Valley Forge.
The Maj. Gen. Lord Stirling Quarters, also known as the Homestead Farm (1880) and Echo Valley Farms (1926-1973), is an historic home that is located in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The David Havard House, also known as the Former Quarters of Lee and Bradford, is a historic home located near Valley Forge in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, it served as quarters for several of George Washington's senior officers.
Joseph Walker House, also known as Wayne's Quarters, is a historic home located in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The house was built in four sections, with the oldest dated to about 1757. It is the three bay at the western end of the eleven bay house, and is a two-story, double pile stone structure. The additions took place about 1820, about 1870, and about 1920. It was renovated in 1950 and Colonial Revival details added. During the American Revolution the house served as headquarters for General Anthony Wayne in late-1777 and early-1778, during the encampment at Valley Forge.
The Staats House, also known as the General Baron von Steuben Headquarters, is a historic building located at 17 Von Steuben Lane in South Bound Brook, Somerset County, New Jersey. Constructed c. 1740, it is now known as the Abraham Staats House after its second owner. In 1779, during the second Middlebrook encampment of the American Revolutionary War, it served as the headquarters for Prussian-American General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 2002, and noted as representing "one of the finest remaining buildings from the second phase of Dutch immigration and settlement in the Raritan Valley".
Anna Morris Holstein was an American organizational leader, civil war nurse, and author. From 1862 until the close of the war, Holstein was engaged in the hospital service, and after the Battle of Gettysburg, she was matron-in-chief of a hospital in which 3,000 seriously wounded men were looked after. She was the founder and first regent of the Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge, and a regent of the Valley Forge Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). It was largely through her influence that George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge were purchased, restored and made accessible to the people. Her publications included Three years in field hospitals of the Army of the Potomac (1867), Swedish Holsteins in America from 1644 to 1892 (1892), and Valley Forge : Winter of 177-78 The Darkest Period of the Revolution.
The Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge was incorporated in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1878, with the objective of saving, acquiring, restoring, and preserving General Washington's Valley Forge Headquarters and surrounding acreage as parcels of it became available.
Media related to Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge at Wikimedia Commons
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(help) and Accompanying 2 photos, exterior, from 1971, and one drawing (32 KB)