Valley Forge Tour: Self-Guided Drive

Welcome to the Valley Forge Tour

Relive the most harrowing days of the American Revolution with this narrated Valley Forge park tour. Here, George Washington’s Continental Army endured brutal cold, starvation, and betrayals which threatened to end the revolution for good.

This self-guided Valley Forge Park Tour lets you explore the park’s historical wonders with maximum flexibility, safety, and value. Hop in your car, get the tour guide app set up on your phone, and get started. All audio plays automatically based on location.

About the Tour

Your Valley Forge National Historical Park tour begins near the visitor center and one of the camp’s central redoubts, a collection of cabins where ordinary soldiers weathered the deepening cold. From there, you’ll head to the camp that was home to a preacher-turned-soldier with a flair for the dramatic: General Peter “Devil Pete” Muhlenberg.

After that are two memorials. First, is the Maine Memorial, where you’ll learn about the surprisingly fragile bonds that held the colonies together during the revolution. Then, the impressive National Memorial Arch, built to honor all the soldiers who persevered in the face of tremendous hardship during the long winter at Valley Forge.

Up next on the Valley Forge park tour, you’ll find a statue of General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, one of Washington’s less predictable commanders. Then you’ll arrive at the quarters of General Henry Knox, a man who had no military training before the war but impressed Washington with his fighting spirit.

As you continue towards the Delaware Memorial, you’ll hear about the ills besetting the camp, including waves of desertion which threatened to splinter the army entirely.

Then, you’ll come to George Washington’s headquarters. This modest structure hides a significant history! Nearby is the George Washington Monument, where you’ll hear the truth about what made this man such an effective general.

Your route takes you to the New Jersey Memorial next, honoring the men from this state who stood by Washington’s side. Then you’ll come to the Redoubt Overlook, where Washington’s men built intimidating earthen defenses to make the British think twice about attacking.

After you pass Artillery Park, where Henry Knox stationed the camp’s heavy weaponry, you’ll hear about the unlikely allies who saved the camp from starvation just in the nick of time: the Oneida tribe. Next up is a statue of another unusual hero, Friedrich von Steuben, the Prussian who transformed Washington’s ragtag militias into a fighting force to be feared.

The last monument you’ll see along your tour is the Patriots of African Descent Monument, where you’ll learn the seldom-told story of the first Black military regiment in the history of the United States. The tour concludes beyond this monument, near the visitor center where it began.

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