Valley Forge : : Making and Remaking a National Symbol / / Lorett Treese.

More than four million people a year visit Valley Forge, one of America's most celebrated historic sites. Here, amid the rolling hills of southeastern Pennsylvania, visitors can pass through the house which served as Washington's Headquarters during the famous winter encampment of 1777-177...

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Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn State University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
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Place / Publishing House:University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2021]
©1995
Year of Publication:2021
Language:English
Series:Keystone Books
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (286 p.) :; 17 illustrations
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Description
Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
List of Illustrations --
Preface to the Second Printing --
Preface --
1. The First Hundred Years at Valley Forge --
2. The Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge --
3. A Rocky Beginning for the Valley Forge Park Commission --
4. The Park Commission Triumphs --
5. The Churches at Valley Force --
6. Historical Accuracy vs. Good Taste: Valley Forge in the 1920s and 1930s --
7. The "Complete Restoration" of Valley Forge --
8. New Uses for an Old Story --
9. The Siege of Valley Forge --
10. A Struggle for Growth and Professionalism at the Washington Memorial --
11. New Interpretations at Valley Forge --
Epilogue.- Valley Forge-Past, Present, Future --
Notes --
Bibliography --
Index
Summary:More than four million people a year visit Valley Forge, one of America's most celebrated historic sites. Here, amid the rolling hills of southeastern Pennsylvania, visitors can pass through the house which served as Washington's Headquarters during the famous winter encampment of 1777-1778. Others picnic and jog in the huge park, complete with monuments, recreated log huts, and modern visitor center, all built to pay tribute to the Valley Forge story. In this lively book, Lorett Treese shows how Valley Forge evolved into the tourist mecca that it is today. In the process, she uses Valley Forge as a means for understanding how Americans view their own past. Treese explores the origins of popular images associated with Valley Forge, such as George Washington kneeling in the snow to seek divine assistance. She places Valley Forge in the context of the historic preservation movement as the site became Pennsylvania's first state park in 1893. She studies its ";Era of Monuments"; and the movement to ";restore"; Valley Forge in the spirit of Rockefeller's enormously popular colonial Williamsburg. Treese describes a Valley Forge fraught with controversy over the appropriate appearance and use of a place so revered. One such controversy, the ";hot dog war,"; a brief but intense battle over concession stands, was spawned by Americans' changing perceptions of how a national park was to be used. The volatile Vietnam era prompted the state park commission to establish its ";Subcommittee on Sex, Hippies, and Whiskey Swillers"; to investigate park regulation infractions. Even today, people differ over exactly what happened at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. The modern visitor sees the remains of over a century of commemoration, competition, and contention. The result, Treese shows, is a historic site that may reveal more about succeeding history than about Washington's army. This book will give its readers a new way to look at Valley Forge-and all historic sites.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780271074153
9783110745269
DOI:10.1515/9780271074153?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Lorett Treese.