Valley Forge Doomed

1890.04.24 Freeland tribune, Freeland, PA
link, image 2.

VALLEY FORGE DOOMED

THE CAMP MADE SACRED BY THE
BLOOD OF PATRIOTS

The Owners of the Land Compelled to Sell
It, and a Brewery Will Probably Be
Erected on the Hallowed Spot - Congress
Appealed To Rescue It from Desecration

In patriotic circles
the announcement
that a large tract
of land in Valley Forge
is to be sold,
with the probability
that a brewery
or distillery will
be erected on the
spot, hallowed as
few places in the Union are, has
excited much attention, and strenuous
efforts are being made to save the
famous old ground.
This tract comprises the entire site
occupied by General George Washington
and the Continental army in the
winter of 1777-'78. It covers 190 acres
of beautiful land, broken up here and
there with abrupt wooded hills, and
the whole locality is rich in patriotic
mementos. The property belongs to
Mr. J.B. Carter, or rather Mrs. Carter,
the daughter of Benjamin Mather,
once President of the Senate of Pennsylvania.
It has been in the family
for close on to a century. In a neatly
printed circular Mr. Carter, who is a
hardware merchant in Philadelphia,
announces the beauties of the land
which he is about to sell.
"It is the finest location in Eastern
Pennsylvania for a summer resort,"
reads the circular, "and has desirable
sites for a large number of private
residences. Being but a short
distance from the Schuylkill River, it
commands an extensive view of the
beautiful scenery of the Schuylkill Valley
and the surrounding country.
Fine opportunities are offered for boating
on the river and on the basin of the
mill dam, which is one mile in length.
Valley Forge by rail is six miles from
Norristown. .. The buildings on
the property, and which will be included
in the sale, are a four-story stone
mill, L shaped, the main part being
27 x 41 feet, and a wing attached, 54 x 37
feet; a stone dry and boiler house,
stone storage-house, two-story stone
store, with dwelling attached, and
twenty-eight two and three story
tenement houses. The stone dam and
floodgates were rebuilt last fall. The water
power is furnished by Valley Creek
the capacity being eighty horse power,
and has never failed. The mill buildings
were used for a number of years
as a woolen factory, but are adapted
to general manufacturing purposes.
The Valley Forge Natural Gas Company
are drilling a well on the adjoining
property, and expect to find oil or
gas in paying quantities.""
This circular Mr. Carter has
addressed to every member of Congress
and the Senate and to every Governor
and prominent man in the United
States. Accompanying it is a map of
the tract to be sold.
Speaking of the circular Mr. Carter,
whose patriotism is unquestioned, said :
"I hate to part with the property,
but I am compelled to do so, and the
reason why I got up those circulars
was for the purpose of quickening
action on the part of Congress. I have
received an offer from a New York
brewing concern which is desirous of
____ the pure water and the water
lower for their purposes. But to think
that a brewery should be erected on
the property is exceedingly repugnant
to me. I would much rather that the
property were cut up into building
lots, or that some magnificent hotel
were built there and the historic old
ground kept as a park in good repair
for pleasure parties and sightseers. It
is a crying shame that the famous
grounds should be lost to the country.
I would rather, of course, sell it to the
Government than to any private individual
or syndicate, not knowing to
what uses the latter would put it. Myself
and wife find the property too costly
to keep, and we are forced to part with
it. I have written personally to members
of Congress and to Mr. Cleveland
when he was President, and to
Mr. Harrison, urging them to take some
steps toward the preservation of
Valley Forge, but beyond the bill introduced
by Senator Daniel Voorhees, of
Indiana, to have an appropriation of
half a million set aside to purchase the
grounds, the bill, by the way, being
lost in committee, nothing has been
done in the matter. I would like to
have the historical sanctity of the
grounds preserved, and only the
Government can do so."
That the grounds are well worth
preservation there can be no doubt.
Mr. Carter's tract embraces the famous
forge after which the valley is named,
and the tract now before the public
for sale has the famous spring from
which Washington drew his morning
draught of the pure, sparkling fluid.
Imagine this pure, limpid, natural
offering on this historic ground to be
changed into beer !
Near the spring is the spot where the
headquarters of the "greatest American"
stood. In that camp, as every
well-informed American schoolboy
knows, or ought to know, was passed
the gloomiest and saddest period of the
war for independence. There it was
that the patriotic army, ragged, half-
starved, disheartened, without shoes
or blankets or proper clothing, slept
at night during the whole of that
dreadful winter on the bare earth, and
in the daytime, while providing firewood
for their rude, comfortless huts,
left foot tracks of blood on the frozen
ground, hallowing the very soil by the
severity and heroism of their sufferings.
The site of the camp is but a few
yards south of the Schuylkill River
and commands an extensive view of
the lovely scenery along the course of
that stream. The old stone mansion
occupied by Washington and his
personal staff fronts the station of the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad,
and southward a quarter of a mile is
the spot where Washington's original
headquarters stood, the building now
removed,occupied by him in December
1777. Less than a stone's throw
away is the bubbling spring, named
after the famous General, whose
waters, unless Congressional action
intervenes, will be turned into the
plebeian beer. It is on the right bank
of Valley Creek, and on the other side
of that, a step below, is the site of the
old Valley Forge, built in 1757, and
probably the oldest rolling-mill in the
United States. A few hundred yards
southeast, extending in a zigzag line
approximately north and south for a
quarter of a mile, are the remains of
the old intrenchments (sic) and breastworks,
still easily distinguishable by
the irregular and scattered heaps of
stones and the uneven elevations of
the greensward. On the right of
these remains are the foundations,
stones, and decayed timbers of Fort Washington,
which served as the eastern
bulwark of the camp, while southwest
of this, a quarter of a mile further,
is the headquarters of General Knox
and the officers of his command.
A short distance below, on the other
side of the valley creek, is the site of
Lafayette's headquarters. The railroad
station near Washington's stone
house, which was then owned by
Isaac Potts, is four miles east of
Phoenixville, thirty-five miles from
Philadelphia.
Residents in the neighborhood still
point out to visitors the place under an
old oak tree on the left bank of Valley Creek
where Washington was discovered
by Isaac Potts on his knees in
prayer, beseeching the Almighty for
guidance and victory for the army
intrusted (sic) in his command.
And on this spot a brewery is to be
erected, the odor of the hops and malt
to foul the ground made sacred by the
suffering of the noblest band of
patriots the world has ever known ; where
George Washington's tears flowed for
his bleeding country, and the cause he
loved and fought for !
The Potts residence, adjoining
Washington's headquarters, was recently
purchased by the Patriotic Order, Sons of America,
and it has been converted
into a national museum. The old
mansion was restored to its original
style of architecture, and some of the
old furniture of the Washington residence
at Mount Vernon placed within
it. The museum also contains a small
arsenal of armorial relics of the
Revolutionary war. The village of Valley Forge
covered the site of the artificers
headquarters and gunshops.
Congress will be memorialized by the
Women's Christian Temperance Union
of Philadelphia to preserve the historic
grounds and heirlooms, and that
association is taking active steps to interest
members in the purchase and preservation
of the ground from the hands of
the land-grabber and boomer, and, to
judge from the active interest taken in
the matter, the indications are that no
brewery will waft the odor of hope over
the famous ground stained with the
blood of the nation's martyrs.

Found by Herb Fry. Digitized by Heidi Sproat 11/12/2022.