Covenant between Philander Knox and the Commissioners of Valley Forge Park

Date: 30 October 1916

Philander C. Knox

With

The Commissioners of Valley Forge Park

Dated: 10-30-1916

Whereas the Commonwealth of PA. is acquiring the land on both sides of Valley Creek with intent to encompass the little valley and include it in the Valley Forge Park because of its historic associations, and of its picturesque slopes.

AND WHEREAS I own land at the head of the valley and extending into it…

NOW THERFORE in consideration of the covenants and agreements hereinafter contained I hereby covenant  … I will preserve the natural beauty of the western slope of said valley…

Stipulating, however, that this covenant on my part is in consideration of and conditional upon the Commissioners of Valley Forge Park never consenting to or permitting the construction or operation of an electric steam or other railway longitudinally on any land belonging to the Commonwealth on either side of the valley from the Headquarters of Gen. Washington to the covered bridge at the head of the valley commonly known as Knox bridge…

References

The Forgotten Statesman: Philander Knox and the Politics of the Early 1900s by Mike Bertram, TEHS Quarterly, vol. 47 #1 (March 2010)