Our hotel in Pennsylvania was just a few minutes from Valley Forge, so when sickness hit during our vacation, our change of plans included me running over to Valley Forge to gather information from the Visitor Center so that we could visit the park as a family on Christmas Day when the visitor center was closed.

The Visitor Center has a theater area where a film is shown, and several exhibits about Valley Forge.  It has a gift shop as well as an information kiosk with local information.  I purchased a CD audio tour (which did not work in our Toyota Sienna CD player, by the way–we had the same trouble with the Gettysburg CD) and drove through the park before heading back to the hotel.

The next day, we did drive through the park again, although without the audio tour.  The area is bigger than I’d expected, and it’s easy enough to follow the signs for a circular tour.

General Washington’s headquarters was closed for rehabilatation so we were unable to see it.  Several of the other buildings and huts were open,  but we decided not to buckle and unbuckle the kids’ carseats over and over, so we took in the view from the car.

It was interesting to see where Washington’s troops spent their difficult winter, and how the terrain was used in the soldiers’ training.

Valley Forge is important in American history so it was interesting to drive through, but there wasn’t a lot of interest for the kids here.

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