Valley Forge, PA

VALLEY FORGE, Chester Co., PA

VALLEY FORGE, A GHOST TOWN???

I hear the detractors already. So before you start sending the hate mail and scathing E-mails – read on…

The eastern United States is a hotbed of history, and the former colony of Pennsylvania sits in the heart of that historic area. Valley Forge is most famous for being where the Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington, spent the cold, nasty winter of 1777-1778. It was here in relative safety that they recuperated, rebuilt and resupplied, as they kept a wary eye on the British army occupying the colonial capital, in Philadelphia, just 18 miles east. BUT. Much like Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, Valley Forge is much more famous for a secondary, war-related event than it is for actually being a ghost town. The Valley Forge we’re talking about is not the current town, located to the west of the National Historic Park, but the original iron forge community that is located inside the park, and is the faded remnant of what it was. If not for General Washington’s winter encampment here, Valley Forge would just be another forgotten Colonial iron forge community, just another of the hundreds of anonymous sites that have nearly been forgotten.

During the Colonial Period, iron making was an extremely important industry. Most of the products were used in everyday life, including: agriculture, households, construction of ships and buildings and in conflict. The English colonies in the future eastern United States produced tons of pig iron which was then shipped to English manufacturers. Pig iron is a mid-point product of iron making and is produced at blast furnaces where molten iron is cast into bars, more commonly known as pigs. The term evolved from the method used to manufacture these brittle iron bars. The molten iron was poured from large kettles into a channel tamped into a sand bed. From the channel, runners ran off to depressions where the molten iron gathered. While cooling, the bars remained attached to the by those thin sections. As they were all lined up side-by-side, they looked like a litter of piglets suckling on mama pig, hence the name.

Due to restrictive trade policies between England and its colonies, the colonists were not “legally” allowed to produce their own finished goods and products from the pig iron, but were supposed to purchase them from the English. As a result, the iron pigs were sent to England, where they were subsequently re-melted and cast into products (cast iron), heated to a malleable state and manually worked into items (wrought iron) or even further refined into steel. However, that policy wasn’t strictly enforced, and by the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the American colonies produced about 1/6 of the world’s iron products. Obviously with those numbers that restrictive policy was enforced about as often as the speed limit on today’s interstate highways!

As a result of non-enforcement and the fact that Pennsylvania contained a huge supply of raw iron ore, the colony became the most important iron manufacturing center in the American colonies. Valley Forge was just one of some 80 other similar operations in the future state. Despite the heavy-handed but mostly ignored policies of the English, colonial iron makers continued to make most of the items needed by the colonists. As a result, when war finally broke out the colonists were better equipped AND armed than the English expected.

Here in 1730, in the flat river bottom at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River Daniel Walker, Stephen Evans and Joseph Williams purchased a parcel of land from the original landowners and established a finery forge called the Mount Joy Forge, after the hill east of the creek. A finery forge is where iron pigs are further processed by melting them and refining them into a malleable form of iron known as wrought iron. The wrought iron was then worked into many different products by blacksmiths and other ironworkers. This was an ideal site. Valley Creek dropped about 25’ in its last mile before its confluence with the Schuylkill River, so the forges here could be water powered. They were also close enough to Philadelphia to be able to tap that bustling consumer market and shipping center.

Shortly after production began, they renamed their location Valley Forge, after Valley Creek. In 1742, the tiny community that housed the workers at the forge and its associated supporting businesses took on that name. Growth was assured, and in the 1750s, a sawmill was added to its amenities. Then in 1757, Walker, Evans and Williams sold out to John Potts, a well known and respected Quaker ironmaster who owned a network of iron forges and furnaces in the area. Potts also added a grist mill in 1759 and expanded the little milling and forge community. In 1767, his sons David and Joseph, and their cousin Thomas Hackley operated the forge, while a third brother, Isaac, operated the grist mill. Cast iron kettles and cannon balls were some of the most common products produced.

The Potts’ and Hackley purchased over 1000 acres of woodland around the forge and harvested the ash, hickory and oak trees to make charcoal. The pits were located nearby on Mount Misery. That charcoal was used to power the forges.

John Potts died in 1768 and sole ownership of the forge was passed to son, Joseph. However, by the early 1770s, Isaac Potts and his brother-in-law William Dewees operated the forge and added a second forge. They also purchased additional woodland, enlarging the business even more. By the time the American Revolution began, they produced many needed military supplies for the growing unrest.

At this time, the community consisted of a grist mill, sawmill, the two forges, a blacksmith shop, company store, cooperage (barrel maker) and housing for the operation’s managers and workers. Valley Creek was dammed and a side channel (headrace) was dug to divert water to power a pair of huge water wheels. One operated large forge hammers, while the other powered the bellows which supplied added air to the furnace. When the Revolutionary War began, the Continental Army saw the strategic location was near Philadelphia, so they stockpiled much of their war supplies at Valley Forge, much to the chagrin of the forge owners. Dewees and the Potts’ were assured that the position was easily defended as the surrounding topography of Mount Joy, Mount Misery and the Schuylkill River made it difficult to be surprised and easy to defend.

When the English landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay and began to march towards the Colonial capital of Philadelphia in March of 1777, the stockpiling activity at Valley Forge caught their attention. As a result, a contingent of English soldiers headed to Valley Forge causing the Continental Army to evacuate their stockpiled stores. The colonials had just made it across the Schuylkill River when the English hit town on September 17, 1777. The English fired a few shots at the fleeing army then appropriated the remaining supplies. Three days later, the English army dynamited the dams, torched the buildings, destroyed the two forges and all the mills except the grist mill. The latter survived until 1843, when it succumbed to fire. The English then pulled out of Valley Forge and marched off to Philadelphia, leaving the Potts’ and Dewees out of business and the town a smoking ember.

But, all was not lost. On December 19, 1777, General George Washington and 12,000 or so soldiers returned to Valley Forge, not for battle, but for a winter layover. They needed a location near Philadelphia that was easily defended. However, this time with 12,000 troops, a few English patrols would not stand a chance and create the ruckus they did a few months previously. The winter grew cold and windy. The troops were tired, battered and ready to rest up and regain their strength. With the Schuylkill River to their backs, they dug entrenchments around Mount Joy and built over 2000 log cabins for shelter. Any of the remaining homes were appropriated by various officers, including General Washington, who subleased the old Isaac Potts house from the Potts’ aunt, Deborah Hewes, who moved in with other family members. Washington then established his headquarters downstairs, while living upstairs in the house.

The miserable conditions of the encampment over that winter are legend, and won’t be repeated here. After six months of rest and recuperation word reached General Washington that the English had vacated Philadelphia and were headed towards New York. So, on June 19, 1778, the Continental Army troops decamped and began their relentless pursuit of the English, eventually securing full victory five years later.

After the war ended, a small iron forge was reestablished and worked until the 1820s when it shut down for good. The community rebuilt. A grist mill and cotton mill were added, and it grew slowly, mostly west of the creek. The old encampment area east of Valley Creek was nearly forgotten until 1893 when it became a state park. In 1903 construction of a beautiful memorial chapel began, and was completed 14 years later in 1917. A 58-bell carillon was also built, funded by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The 58 bells commemorate the all the states and territories that make up the United States of America. During the 1920s, archeologists examined the site of the original forge and village and in 1929 began excavation of the main forge and various building sites. However, flooding of the creek and too many visitors necessitated took its toll on the excavated ruins, so the State Park folks re-covered the building sites to “protect them.” (MY quotes.)

The state maintained the site of the encampment until July 4, 1976, when the state of Pennsylvania donated the park to the country in celebration of the Nation’s Bicentennial. Today it is administered as a National Historical Park and the story of the little community has been interpreted and preserved for all. Buildings have been restored or recreated, and the 3500-acre site is a wonderful reminder of a turning point in the United States of America’s formative period. That little six month period between Dec 1777 and June 1778, out of the village’s two-and a half centuries of history actually has defined America’s history.

SO. The question remains. Is Valley Forge a ghost town? My response is: OH YEAH!

This was our Ghost Town of the Month for January 2013.

LOCATION:

SITE NAME	LATITUDE	LONGITUDE
Forges	40.0967493	-75.4623574
Issac Potts house	40.1017759	-75.4611826
Railroad station	40.1023135	-75.4605174
Visitor center	40.1015379	-75.4225051

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FIRST POSTED: January 13, 2013

LAST UPDATED: February 08, 2013

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