New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-08-27
VALLEY FORGE RESTORED.
Its Condition IN Revolutionary Daus
No1p Readily Seen.


But where are the intrenchrnents? was the
Eock question OF the visitor TO Valley Forge a
few years ago Crude signs bore the legend
Line Of intrenchments" but all the patriotic
tourist could see that might pass for a
oulWark was mass of dead leaves broken
branches Of trees, miscellaneous rubbish and
tumbled rocks. 1t required a strong magma
ton 10 transform this into the trenches from
which the soldiers OF Washington kept watch
and ward with an eye ever turned toward
Philadelphia AS for any solving of the plan Of
the encampment that was impossible even with
a map, for the heights OF Valley Forge were
overgrown with trees and landmarks had been
al but obliterated- Since the Valley Forge
Park Commission got TO work however. with
an appropriation from the State all this has
been changed
1t is not now necessary TO toll up the hill to
the scene of the encampnent From Washing
tons headquarters, near the station a road has
been built A party can be driven I'D the hill
TO the line Of intrenchments, passing on the
way the spot where camped General Mcintosh
and his Georgia troops, alighting TO take a look
a. Fort Huntington, and then proceeding past
the place where General Maxwell and his New
Jersey troops rested TO the Washington redoubt
and the angle where General Knox parked his
artillery.
int W Washington TeOOODt Is at present the
most interesting part of the renovated in
trenchments, for il has been almost restored to
fits former condition II has been a long and
tedious job TO make Fort Washington look like
its former formidable self. It was not difficult
70 find the lines Of the fort beneath the accunu-
lated rubbish Of generations, but to remove this
mass Of material and dig out the bitches and
restore the interior was an herculean task Now
the fort is taking such finished shape that every
corner Of the structure can be seen from the
platform built for the convenience of visitors.
In the centre OF the fort was the magazine.
This has been left just as it was when used by
the Colonial troops. The trenches around the
fort have been shaped and restored and sodded
and the shelves of the interior made trim and
bUsinesslike, so that now, instead Of having to
imagine a fort while actually looking at q mass
OF dead leaves and rubbish, the visitor sees the
redoubt before him and nothing is left to the
imagination except 10 picture the i'll clothed and
half fed sentinel pacing the parapet and the
shiVering patriots trying to keep warm over a
scanty wood fire within the fort
From the Washington redoubt the road when
finished will be a driveway through the part of
the park where General Scott and his Vir-
ginians camped. where General Wayne and his
Pennsylvania patriots had their quarters, and
where General Poors NewYOrk troops kept tho
line From here the visitor viii be able to fol-
low the exterior line Of intrenchments until he
successfully passes the encampments of Cen
eral Glover's Massachusetts troops, General
Ilearned's Hampshire troops. General Pat
terson's Vernonters. General Weedon's Vir-
rinians and General Muhlenberg's Pennsylvania
and Virginia troops
Another road from Washington's headquar-
ters leads past the star redoubt to the spot
where there is in course Of erection a chapel to
mark the spot where Washington is said to
have knelt in prayer. A temporary structure is
already on The ground, and the stone chapel,
which will be a pretentious structure. is being
built as rapidly as money can be procured. 1t
was In this chapel that President Roosevelt at
tended services when visit TO Attorney