Greg J. Hipius'

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Phoenixville - June, 2005

In mid-June of 2005, a couple of our friends were in a play, directed and crewed by more friends, which they staged at the infamous Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.  Pam and I, along with our good friends Mark and Maria, took a weekend trip down to see the show.  Since Phoenixville is almost a suburb of Philadelphia, we also took some time that afternoon for a brief visit to Valley Forge National Park.

This is the Valley Forge Wyndham Hotel, where we stayed overnight.  Okay, okay!  I didn't take this picture - I just got it from their website.  But admit it.  You were pretty impressed for just a minute there, weren't you?

The hotel was extremely nice, the experience marred only twice.  It was first marred when Mark was outraged to find that his complimentary cheese was not out yet for him... never fear, it appeared later on in the evening, somewhat appeasing him.  It was marred the second time when our A/C broke on a record temperatures night... never fear, we were appeased too when Wyndham very graciously adjusted our bill in apology.

Valley Forge National Park is an absolutely beautiful area, with some great natural landscapes.  They have done an outstanding job of carefully landscaping the necessary evils of tourism, right down to the visitor's center itself, right into the scenery, making them almost invisible so as not to spoil the view.

A note about the Visitor's Center: we spend only a brief moment there, because our friend CJ (director of the play we were in the area to see) showed up at the same time, and as we were still futilely trying to keep our trip a surprise to him, we had to sneak out before he saw us.  It was actually fairly silly not to expect this to happen, as we all share the same love of history, and are naturally attracted to places like Valley Forge when in the neighborhood.

Many of the picturesque scenes featured cannons, which served to bolster my understanding of Valley Forge as the location of the American Army's siege battles with an entraped British Army in Philadelphia.  I did an excellent job of explaining this to everyone, only to find out what I thought I remembered was totally wrong - despite the careful planning and entrenching, and the long stay of Washington's army, no actual fighting took place.  In fact, all the picturesque cannons were *cough* moved to Valley Forge from elsewhere.  Still, the location is stepped in history of a different kind.

Here, you see our friends Mark and Maria reading all about how full of s**t I was when I tried to explain what I originally thought was the historical significance of Valley Forge.  In reality, it seems it was the location at which Washington's army encamped for the winter while the British Army was held in Philadelphia, but the simple weather of the season and the presence of the American forces were enough deterrent to prevent any attempt at an attack on Valley Forge; both sides were instead content to wait out the harsh winter and resume the conflict in the Spring. 

Pam (closest) and Maria (next closest) approach a cluster of reconstructed log barracks, built in the same manner and design as those constructed for the American forces in Valley Forge.  Washington commanded each subdivision to build their own shelter to detailed specifications, but because levels of skill and experience varied greatly, they didn't come out looking as uniform as intended.  In fact, the localized cultural heritage of some units ended up inadvertently reflected in their own interpretation of the prescribed designs.

Here, my wife Pam gets ready to ram the camera up my *** if I don't stop insisting on taking pictures of her.  Hey, can you blame me?  It seems like an understandable natural phenomenon to me... a photographer takes pictures of what he finds most attractive and appealing in the surroundings, and there she is, in my surroundings.

Actually, it also didn't help that it was one of the hottest days on record for that time of June.  A nice breeze kept the environment mostly pleasant, but there were moments.  I'm really fairly lucky that she didn't turn the cannon on me.

It was remarkable how beautiful the country is in this area, and what great scenes are made for by the juxtaposition of the rustic recreated log barracks in the foreground and the rolling natural horizon on the background.

Also interesting were the frequency with which the log barracks were recreated in various locations around the site, even where tourists were not necessarily likely to go for a look.  The people planning the park obviously took care when trying to give visitors a taste of the surroundings at the time of the encampment.  Of course, for that, one would have to come back in the dead of winter...

In a few areas, the barracks were built together along the original makeshift "roads" established by the continental army for the temporary encampment town.  Here, visitors can walk amidst the cabins and look inside.  In each of the cabins, bunks were set against the walls as many as four high, one on top of the next, so as to provide space for an optimum number of militia to find shelter.

Also nearby many of the cabins (and visible in some of our pictures) were the structures meant for other purposes, such as cooking.  One great mound (not pictured) of earth was actually the structure for an oven, serving a tremendous number of soldiers each day.

Our friend Mark is, if nothing else, a big kid.  Much as you'd imagine with the younger spirits in any group visiting the site, he was quick to climb inside one of the cabins for a first-person perspective of life in the encampment.

As for me, based on the sizes of the bunks and the sizes of the doors, it appears that nobody remotely similar to my body type was in the continental army.  In fact, it appears that the entire army was peopled with militia measuring about 2' 8" and weighing about the same as a moderately sized kitchen mop.

Visible in the distance here is the memorial arch located at the center of the encampment.  As perspective isn't really possible in this picture, I'll just share that the arch must be several stories high, and visible from quite a distance, providing you could find a direct line of sight.

Due to the short schedule, we didn't take the time to actually walk right out to the arch, but I have no doubt that we will on our next visit.

One of the most unexpected surprises was the quantity of bold wildlife, particularly deer, that populated the area.  At times, just sitting in the car and looking across fields, one could see over a dozen at once, and they just kept coming.

In fact, throughout much of the driving tour, one had to keep a careful eye open, as the deer would regularly come bounding across the road... and when one did, you could be fairly certain that it would be followed by several more.

At one point, Mark and I got out of the car and ventured just a few meters into the forest, where we could see family groups of the deer lounging, several deer in each family group, and several family groups visible at all times.

Our theory regarding the numerous deer is that the ban on hunting within the grounds of the national park has made it a perfect breeding ground.

Our friends' performance took place in the infamous Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.  It is likely that it looks somewhat familiar to you, but that you can't place what you recognize it from.

The theater was active from the times of live performance and silent films, and was witness to the entire evolution of the motion picture industry.  It was restored recently, and while it continues to show films, our friends' performance was the first live theatre there in quite a while.

The source from which you are most likely to recognize the theater, however, is the classic, early black and white horror movie, "The Blob"... it was the Colonial Theater from which the blob grew and erupted in one of the most famous scenes from the film, preceded by scores of screaming patrons.

Each year, the theater holds "Blobfest", featuring a screening of the movie, as well as "the running of the blob", an event in which people gather inside the theater, and then at a prescribed time, all run screaming out into the street.

Well, try as we might, the backlighting just wouldn't let us get a really good shot in front of the Colonial Theater that night (see shots of Mark and Maria, then Pam and I above).  As a last ditch try, Mark set up this off-angle portrait of Maria, Pam, and I on the sidewalk in front of the theater... it might be the closest we've got to a good shot, but no matter... it was a great trip, and I'm sure I'll get a second try someday.

Note: All photos in this gallery are in an adjusted, altered format from the originals, in order to conserve disk space on the server.  If you would like a copy of the original, higher quality file, maybe because you or someone you know is in any of these pictures, or maybe just because you're a little strange, email me and I'll do my best to accommodate any reasonable and non-spooky requests.

Oh, yah, one other note.  We're pretty loose about who does the shooting... I don't personally take credit for all these shots, as it isn't unusual at all for Pam or one of our friends to fire off a few too... just to be ethical about everything (Do you REALLY want me taking all the shots?  Didn't think so.).

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Questions?  Comments?  Email me at gjhipius@twcny.rr.com.