Virtual March-In

Virtual March-In programming, December 14-19, 2020

NPS Image / G. Purifoy

Online March-In Programming

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the park commemorated the arrival of the Continental Army to Valley Forge on December 19, 1777 with a series of videos and web activities telling the stories of the Valley Forge encampment and its people.

These resources and activities are linked below!

 

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  The Continental Army Arrives

  The ill-supplied Continental Army marches into Valley Forge on December 19, 1777. This is an excerpt from Determined to Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment.

  Duration:

  2 minutes, 32 seconds

 

Featured Video: Popular Myths of Valley Forge vignette

Length: 3:32 minutes
At Valley Forge, the weather outside was not as frightful as visitors usually think. Gain some new insight as we dispel this and other myths about the park’s history.

Featured Activity: On Guard! An Online Sentry Activity

In this interactive online activity, players take on the role of a sentry in the Continental Army in order to learn more about the people of the Valley Forge winter encampment and the challenges of sentry duty.

Featured Video: Nature’s Refuge vignette

Length: 3:30 minutes
During the American Revolution, each side attempted to defeat the other by using terrain and resources to their advantage. Yet opposing armies often faced differing environmental challenges. While the British occupied the port city of Philadelphia, the Continental Army relied on the natural resources of Valley Forge. Learn more about the waters, meadows, and forests present in the park today, as some of them would have been around during the encampment period.

Featured Activity: 360 Huts

Get a taste of encampment life as you explore the interior of two recreated huts at the Muhlenberg Brigade: one built for officers, the other meant for a squad of twelve enlisted soldiers.

Featured Video: Unsung Heroes of Valley Forge vignette

Length: 3:30 minutes
Learn about the role of women, as well as the diverse cultures and ethnicities within the encampment. Many were present during the march into Valley Forge.

Featured Video: Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. and the Patriots of African Descent Monument interview

Length: 29:11 minutes
An interview featuring Paulette Jones and Deanna Shelton from Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. They discuss how their Valley Forge Alumnae Chapter erected the park’s Patriots of African Descent Monument. Since 2020 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Jones and Shelton also talk about another historic march—Delta Sigma Theta’s participation in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C.

Featured Video: Life Before & After the Encampment vignette

Length: 3:10 minutes
The Welsh-Quaker farming community at Valley Forge found their lives disrupted with the arrival of the Continental Army. Imagine 12,000 people encamped in your neighborhood! Learn about the history of Valley Forge before the encampment, and how resident farmers dealt with a revolution at their doorstep.

Featured Video: Shelter at Valley Forge vignette

Length: 4:32 minutes
Although the Continental Army benefitted from Valley Forge’s natural defenses, a lack of housing meant that soldiers had to construct their own. Learn about the different types of shelter present in the encampment, and who would have used them.

Featured Video: March-In with Ajena C. Rogers interview

Length: 58:38 minutes
Park Ranger Ajena C. Rogers discusses her past work as a living history interpreter at Valley Forge NHP, as well as her involvement in the park’s new orientation film where she reprised her role as Hannah Till, an enslaved pastry cook within General George Washington’s household.

 

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  Valley Forge Yule Log

  Don't have a fireplace at home? Don't worry! Warm up your holidays with a crackling fire in the hearth of one of our soldier huts.

  Duration:

  28 minutes, 9 seconds