Hello. Today was a free day in Philadelphia before the Constitution Center workshop begins on Monday. When I teach the American Revolution to my 8th graders I have always wondered what Valley Forge and the location of Washington's Crossing would look like in person. Today I was able to see both sites. Pat Hughes, the author of Guerrilla Season and a resident of Philadelphia, was nice enough to share the day with me and offered to drive - a huge relief to me who would have been lost about a dozen times on the way there had I driven!
We wanted to see both locations so we didn't see everything at both locations, rather we saw the things we really wanted to see at each in a very busy day. The rest I'll see on my next trip to the Philadelphia area. Valley Forge was great and I have interviews with a couple of soldiers in the encampment. Then at Washington's headquarters I was blown away by the amazing living history portrayal of George Washington. This guy was awesome in appearance, voice, mannerisms, etc. - check out the photo. I did an interview with him and I swear I was visiting with ol' George himself! I also interviewed a slave that prepared the meals for George Washington and his staff at the headquarters. We finished up the day with a trip to Washington's Crossing State Park, including a tour of McConkey's Ferry Inn where Washington made the final plans for the crossing and attack on Trenton.
A very full but exciting day. I look forward to returning some day with my family and taking time to soak in the entire site. The podcast is a little longer this time - a little over 50 minutes - but I think there is some great on site audio.
If you have any comments please leave a comment on the blog or email me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com Also, don't forget you have until July 31, 2007 to e-mail me your name and city to be eligible to win a copy of Manhunt or Guerrilla Season - check out episode #100 for more details.
Podcast #106 Show Notes:
Your podcasts are interesting to me as someone who grew up a town over from Valley Forge -- I've spent many hours in the park using it as a normal park (hiking, walking the dog, picking berries) and not as many in the historical sites part of it, but it's always odd to see a place like that, that's so familiar to me, through new eyes.
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