Washington Slept Here

We used the two beautiful sunny days we had in Bucks County to visit Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware and Valley Forge. The Crossing is a state park which lies along a stretch of the Delaware incorporating what is thought to be the location of his crossing to Delaware and subsequent surprise attack on Trenton. This Christmas night attack in 1776 was a turning point for the Revolution and motivated colonists to join the dwindling Continental Army and continue the fight against the Brits. The Brits were completely surprised; over 500 Hessian soldiers were captured with little loss to the Continental Army. After two more successful crossings and encounters with the Brits, Washington and his troops moved to Valley Forge to set up the winter encampment. The Brits did not follow because they had already started their winter encampments and Washington had taken almost all the boats on the New Jersey side of the river.

My 4^th great-grandfather, Lewis Boyer, was a Light Guard for George Washington (a personal bodyguard) and he served with Washington for the whole war. He was at the Crossing and Valley Forge.  I find it incredibly exciting to be at a spot where my ancestor participated in a key event for this country. Add to it, Russ’ 5^th great-grandfather, Johann Casper Dilling, was a Hessian solder who was captured in battle, escaped while being transferred back to the Brits and subsequently settled in Pennsylvania. We aren’t sure if it was Trenton or Yorktown, but I like to imagine that my ancestor may have had interactions with Russ’ ancestor, although on opposite sides. These two lines of our family, as they wove their way through time and generations, may have managed to interact with each other at least three times: way back in the Revolution era, in the early 1900s when my mom and Russ’ mom grew up together in Canton, South Dakota, and Russ and I meeting in California (having no idea of our mothers’ connection.)

Valley Forge is a National Historical Park and is in a beautiful rolling hills countryside. You can’t camp in the park but there are over 35 miles of hiking and biking trails and several places to picnic. Russ and his family visited when he was young and all he remembers are the bees that kept bothering them while they were picnicking.  We also encountered a few bees while we had our lunch at a picnic table, so I think he experienced some deja vue. There are several places to visit along a driving/walking tour, including memorials, facsimiles of the cabins/encampments, and a beautiful chapel. There were several beautiful views along the tour. It was a wonderful peaceful way to spend a lovely day and some compensation for the many grey days we’ve had since entering Pennsylvania.

Now on to Philadelphia!

A monument at the entrance to the Visitor Center honoring George Washington.

Washington, contemplating the Delaware River.

Such a peaceful scene, hard to imagine the drama wrapped around the attack on Trenton. The two other groups that Washington was counting on to support the attack didn't show because of the snowstorm. So he and his motley crew, ill and malnourished pulled off the coup.

Per

Perhaps my ancestor saw the receiving end of this weapon.  There is nothing reported about him being injured, so he was one of the lucky ones.

The Visitor Center at the Crossing had an excellent orientation film but the rest of the center was a bit disappointing.  The main exhibit focused on the furniture of the time. I really like this style and enjoyed checking the pieces.

This home, as well as the others on display, were all built in the 1830 timeframe, way after the Revolution.  The area was a prosperous village for many decades, before becoming a state park. This was believed to be owned by a blacksmith.  Interpretations and demonstrations are held several times a year.

Thank goodness this home is not occupied.  Russ was playing peeping tom everywhere.

In the month preceding Washington's raid, boats up and down the Delaware were collected and brought to the Pennsylvania side. These Durham boats, used to transport pig iron down the Delaware, were used to transport the troops over to New Jersey.

On the night of the attack, 2400 troops were transported over the river.  Every year, the event is observed, weather permitting, by reenactors. 

On the day we visited, the Delaware River was calm, unlike the turbulence on the night of the attack when the army had to contend with a terrible snow storm and ice on the river. The river is high due to all the rain, flooding has occurred in places.

The canal and its towpath follows the river.  The canal was used for moving goods up the river.

We crossed the river, using the bridge and had lunch in New Jersey at a pub on the Delaware canal.

A group of geese kept watch over the invaders.  Lots of honking met our arrival.

Valley Forge is a large area of fields and hills with 26 miles of trails, several picnic areas and many monuments and displays of life during the winter encampment of the Continental Army.

These are replicas. The originals held 12 soldiers, were constructed by the soldiers using standards. This was part of the effort to change the Continental Army into a disciplined group. Competitions were held on the construction of the cabins and the soldiers took great pride in the quality of their work.

Reenactors answer questions for the tourists.  During the winter of 1776-77, 12,000 soldiers occupied the Valley, making the encampment the fourth largest city in America at the time.

This is a baking oven. A representative from each cabin would make the flour dough and bring it to the baker to make into bread for the week.  The baker was responsible for this oven.

One benefit from the rains is the lovely greens in the fields.

The National Memorial Arch celebrates the arrival of Washington and the Continental Army to Valley Forge.

Two of these eagles flank the road leading to the National Memorial Arch.

Washington and his staff took over this original stone house for their headquarters during the winter. Exhibits inside include one about Washington's private guards.

Washington may have lived rougher than he did at Mount Vernon, but it wasn't bad.

The Washington Memorial Chapel is an active Episcopalian parish. It honors Washington and soldiers of the American Revolution.

The Justice Bell is a replica of the Liberty Bell built in 1915. It was created to support the cause of women's suffrage. It traveled throughout the country on behalf of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.  When the Amendment was ratified, the bell was rung 48 times, for the number of states at the time.

A Very Different Castle

Fonthill Castle is situated about 3 miles outside Doylestown. It was designed and built by Henry Mercer who was a native of Doylestown, a child of a prominent doctor.  He had all the advantages of privilege – went to Harvard, became an archeologist at Harvard, became a lawyer through the University of Pennsylvania Law School, yet never practiced and spent 8 years rambling through Europe. When his aunt died, she left him her entire fortune and he used that money to fund his passion to save the work tools that were being lost because of the Industrial Revolution, ultimately becoming one of the icons of the Arts and Crafts Movement. He acquired over 40,000 tools and implements and needed a place to display them. So, he built the Mercer Museum in downtown Doylestown – seven stories of rooms chock full of scythes, wheels, axes, etc. It was like the largest garage museum anywhere in the world. But it was better than a typical garage museum in that the display of these artifacts is very artistic and the artifacts were documented, and their significance noted.

Henry, who never married, was fascinated with reinforced concrete and built both the museum and the Fonthill Castle, his home, using this material. Not a trained architect or engineer, nevertheless, he designed both buildings and used trade people using non-Industrial Revolution methods to construct these huge buildings. The buildings are fascinating in several dimensions; how they were constructed, how they look and how well they have survived since the early 1900s. None of the buildings have any structural problems; no cracks, no wall separations, no sagging.

In his castle, he indulged his passion for tile work and covered almost every surface with tiles designed and made in the tile factory he built next to the castle. These tiles are based on techniques he found in Europe where he basically apprenticed himself to learn the craft from Moravians. The scenes in the tiles depict work tasks and activities commonly found before the Industrial Revolution. At the end of the castle’s construction, he allowed that he may have gone overboard with the tiles.

I feel so fortunate that the Bucks County Historical Society is housed within the Mercer Museum. The research room was designed by Henry Mercer and is representative of the rooms of the museum. We spent a very pleasant day getting information on our ancestors and admiring the room design.

Doylestown is a very charming  village with many Victorian homes and buildings that have been restored to their former beauty. We walked around the streets a bit to take in the scenery and had dinner at a small restaurant on the main street. There were several interesting shops to explore and the weather was pleasant, for once. It seems that the weather of this trip has either been in the 90s with high humidity or rain with warm temperatures.  Apparently, the average temperature this summer is 12 degrees higher than usual. Whew!

The roof line of the Castle and its outbuildings is very fanciful, reminds me of some of the Disney castle scenes.

The castle was constructed in segments with each segment having slightly different architectural features.

Inside, each column was circled by Moravian tiles, all of which were designed and made in the tile factory on site.

Amazing detail in the tiles.

Russ seems to be engrossed with the docent's talk.

Occasionally, Henry would display the artifacts he collected as an archeologist using tiles.  In this case, these are cuneiform tablets from Egypt.

In keeping with his emphasis on the value of the trades and crafts, most of his cuneiform collection related to the trades.

Loved how this cuneiform was incorporated into the flower tile.

This is in the kitchen.  In keeping with Art & Crafts movement's desire to recycle and respect the past, the farmhouse that was originally on the grounds was incorporated into the castle. The floor of the 2nd floor above the kitchen was removed, but the 2nd floor fireplace was left intact.

Mercer decided not to integrate electricity into the building construction, instead he routed the wiring around the surfaces of the rooms.  Wise move because replacement/repair of these wires, if they had been included into the walls, would have been very tough.

All sorts of nooks and crannies, along with small irregular shaped rooms.

Even the restrooms were replete with tiles.

The floors had large story tiles.

The extensive library has concrete bookcases all over the walls.

Alas, poor Yorick! Every well stocked library needs a real human skull.

This set of winding stairs leading to a bedroom was obviously not constructed with wood forms.

A photo of Mercer supervising the construction of the castle.

Some Chinese tile was incorporated into the walls of a staircase.

A key wall, of course made of concrete, for the castle.  Each room had their own unique key.

The grounds of the castle.  Mercer spent a fair amount of time buying land from several landowners to build his grounds.  It was very marshy back then and is still pretty wet, given all the rain this summer.

A look down into the gathering room.  Mercer entertained a fair amount. This room was where people gathered before dinner.

One of the charming Victorian buildings in Doylestown.

At the Mercer Museum, the 40,000 artifacts are artfully displayed. 

This is the room in Mercer Museum that we were able to use for our genealogy research.