Destination Overview

The Valley Forge area... Destination Overview

The Valley Forge area is…  

• the site of George Washington’s pivotal six-month encampment, from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778, considered a turning point in the American Revolution
  
  
• regarded as the birthplace of the American Army, where Drill Master Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian Commander recruited by Ben Franklin, forged Washington’s troops into a unified fighting force.
  
  
• the home of the first state park in Pennsylvania, which in 1976 became Valley Forge National Historical Park.
  
  
• home to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, which supplied cannons, cannonballs and flour to the Valley Forge troops.
  
  
• home to the Monument to Patriots of African Descent at Valley Forge National Historical Park, which honors the 5,000+ African American soldiers who fought in the American Revolution.
  
  
• a shopping mecca that boasts the first shopping center in America – Suburban Square - and the nation’s largest retail shopping complex – King of Prussia Mall -as well as Philadelphia Premium Outlets and many area Main Streets.
  
  
• home to 55 miles of interconnected biking trails and 40 public golf courses.
  
  
• home to the world’s only museum dedicated to The Three Stooges,  and the world’s finest collection of nickelodeons, or coin-operated musical instruments, at American Treasure Tour.
  
  
• home to the largest concentration of public gardens and arboreta in North America, which includes a medicinal herb garden, a colonial kitchen garden, a Japanese garden, and a 92-acre Victorian landscape garden.
  
  
• home to the oldest continuously family-owned and operated candy manufacturer in the United States – Asher’s Chocolates.
  
  
• home to Spring Mountain Adventures, which offers skiing, snow tubing, canopy tours and zip lining.

Did you know?

• Historic Yellow Springs, which opened in 1722 as a mineral water spa and inn, became the principle hospital unit for the Continental Army during the Valley Forge encampment.
  
  
• King of Prussia, formerly called Reeseville, was named for an inn named in honor of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, who was a valued ally of the British Army.  It still stands today and is a historical landmark.
  
  
• Artist/naturalist John James Audubon’s first and only surviving American home is Mill Grove, in Audubon, now a museum and 175-acre wildlife sanctuary.
  
  
• Morgan Log House, the only surviving 2 1/2-story log home in America, was built by Daniel Boone’s maternal grandparents. Ninety percent of the house remains as it was in 1695.
  
  
• Hope Lodge is named after Henry Hope, a wealthy English banker. His family later gave its name to the famous diamond.
  
  
• Wharton Esherick, “the dean of American craftsmen,” is a Valley Forge area native. His unique, handcrafted studio/residence is now a National Historic Landmark for Architecture.
  
  
• The Neo-Gothic Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge National Historical Park has one of the largest carillons (bell towers) in the United States. Its captivating stained glass windows depict Washington’s life and America’s history.
  
  
• Beth Sholom Synagogue, in Elkins Park, is the only synagogue designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It is also the last project he finished before his death.
  
  
• The King of Prussia Mall is large enough to accommodate five of the Great Pyramids. If you walked every corridor and every aisle of the mall, it would be equivalent to walking across Manhattan.