education of henry

Day 16: Valley Forge, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Rodin Museum

2023-09-29

This morning we improvised a little. Since it wasn't raining and the government shutdown was looming, we added Valley Forge National Historic Park to today so we would have time to see a different National Park tomorrow. The parks are all supposed to close on October 1st. Thankfully the Smithsonian will be staying open next week, despite the shutdown. That means we can still do many of our activities in DC. However, thanks to partisan grandstanding, I will not get to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the inside of the Washington Monument.

But that is in the future. Here's what we did today, starting with the driving tour of Valley Forge.

A model of George Washington on his horse.

A display about what the soldiers would eat at Valley Forge. If you don't remember your history, General Washington had his troops winter in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in 1777-1778. The army was in bad shape. A quarter of them didn't have shoes, many were unfit to fight, all of them had very little food, and poor discipline as soldiers.

Admiring the many guns.

Practicing being at attention.

Here's the outside of the visitor's center - it's as old as Dad.

A reproduction of the huts built by Continental soldiers to keep warm while they were at Valley Forge. In 1777-1778 there were about 2,000 of these on the site - all built by the soldiers.

Inside one of the huts.

If you were an officer, your hut might look like this, although you would be paying for most of it yourself.

This is how the enlisted men lived: a three-tiered bunk on each side, sleeping twelve men total.

The Memorial Arch, built in 1917 to honor the men who fought in the Revolution.

Reading the list of Generals on the monument.

This is the other side of the Arch.

Me with the statue of Mad Anthony Wayne. He wasn't really crazy, he just had a fiery temper.

Pott's farmhouse, where George Washington had his headquarters for the winter.

A good guess at what the room for Washington's aides-de-camp may have looked like. Everything in here is a replica.

This is a recreation of George Washington's office.

This is the original railing from when George Washington lived here. I am touching the same railing at our first president!

A recreation of Washington's bedroom.

The room for the aides.

The kitchen.

Me with General Steuben. He was German, and he came over here to help us defeat the British. General Steuben was loud and he liked to swear. His job was to get the troops into shape to march and execute manuevers properly. Some of the training materials he created are still in use by our military today.

A picture of the inscription, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

From Valley Forge we drove over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The building was impressive. And it was so full of art, I am not even going to try to show off all the things we saw.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A temple guardian from the year 600.

We are in Rome! No, not really. But it sure does look like it.

The statue of Diana.

Look at that sword!

More swords!

Admiring the fully outfitted knight.

A really nice crossbow.

And a couple more.

This painting shows the punishment for Prometheus, who gave fire to humans. The eagle would tear out and eat his liver every day, and every day it would grow back so the eagle could tear it out again.

Oh look. We found Ben Franklin!

The sleeve on her dress looks so real.

This one is called "Arrangement in gray and black" - but you probabaly know it as Whistler's Mother.

Sunflowers by Van Gogh.

This was Mom's favorite.

This is Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2. Dad was excited to see this in person.

Yup. That's a urinal. Dad told me the story of how it ended up in the museum. It's called Fountain, and it is signed R. Mutt, but Marcel Duchamp was the artist who "created" it.