Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: January 1939 Volume 2 Number 1, Pages 2–5

Valley Forge Road

Page 2

Star Redoubt Valley Forge Road

Essay read at the 225th Anniversary Sunday of Old St. David's September 4, 1938

In a section of country long settled one may with profit reflect upon the antiquity of the roads he travels. About here there are roads, not a few, which date from pre-Revolutionary and colonial times. One thinks of the fact as he goes over them. Such roads out west are the Oregon Trail, the Old Santa Fe Trail, and the roads taken by the gold-rush seekers of 1849. In this locality we have Conestoga, Lancaster Turnpike, Matson Ford Road, and, in particular, Valley Forge Road.

West of the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge there is a fortification called Star Redoubt. Upon the earthworks of that ancient fort there is an iron marker, with arrow pointing northeastward, reading "To Sullivan's Bridge." In the days of Washington's occupation there was a road leading from the Star Redoubt, slightly east of north, to a bridge over the Schuylkill River known as Sullivan's Bridge. The distance between the Redoubt and the bridge was perhaps a third of a mile. The bridge may have been upheld in part by a pier or piers built upon the island lying in the Schuylkill at that point. Both the bridge and the road leading to it from the redoubt have disappeared. It may have been a double width road, or two roads running parallel. Star Redoubt would command this road and bridge.

The road moving from Star Redoubt southwestward towards Berwyn would pass close to the east of the colonial stone house known as Gen. Varnum's Quarters. It would traverse the low ground through the little vale east of the hills where lie forts Huntington and Washington, till it nearly reached the farm of Senator Knox. Here by a curve or angle the road turned southeast toward the Valley Baptist Church, to what is now Devon, and to St. David's Church. This road leading southwest from Star Redoubt has also disappeared. In Washington's time it may have crossed the parade ground and was doubtless useful. There is a tradition that there was, near this road, a colonial burial ground which may have antedated Washington's occupation at Valley Forge. If so, it must have been much augmented by the graves of the soldiers who died during the fearful winter of that occupation. The graves, it is reported, were so thick that one might walk hundreds of feet - in fact, a quarter of a mile - using the graves as stepping stones.

Page 3

After turning southeastward at the Senator Knox farm the road struck out in direct course past Valley Baptist Church; past what is now Devon to St. David's Church. In several places at various times and for different reasons diversions from the direct line may be traced. But one may still follow it along the old path in use before the diversions were made. The rector of St. David's was interested in doing this last May under the guidance of Mr. Franklin L. Burns of Berwyn. The old road as it led by the Valley Baptist Church went straight up the hill toward Devon and skirting the northern edge of the residential property of Mrs. G.G. Browning passed on by the property of the Cathcart Home and that of Mrs. Charles F. Lea until it crossed Conestoga Road. It continued on over the property of the late Mr. Michael Dallett and crossed in a straight line Old Lancaster Pike. Going right on, it crossed the present Lancaster Pike, and bounded on the east what is now the property of the Devon Horse Show grounds. The road led on until it entered where is now the gate to the estate of Countess Meyer-de-Schauenzee.

Gateway to Welwyn Farm

The road which runs from the gate to the house of this estate coalesces with and uses the rocky foundation of the old road. Beyond the house the road is now blocked and closed by the woods of said estate. One may walk along the course of the old road through the trees and discover here and there depressions and rocks and side of the road configurations which trace its path. At the west gate of Chestnutwold or, as it is now called, Welwyn Farm, the old road comes out in a direct line and coalesces with the present Valley Forge Road going on past St. David's Church.

Page 4

This old straight road leading direct from Valley Forge to St. David's Church has had three names which were and are descriptive of the road in sections, or in its entirety. It is still known interchangeably as Baptist Road and Valley Forge Road. It is also known as Line Road, since it was the base-line from which as a foundation the surveyors of that day ran their lines of real estate demarcation. The sections of the old road may not have been completed at the same time. From time to time sections of the road may have fallen into disuse. The early sections were laid out for the convenience of the members of the Valley Baptist Church, and as an approach to St. David's Church. No doubt General Washington, for his uses, made more definite and clear its path.

The route of the old road has been at least thrice changed or diverted. Formerly it went boldly up the hill past the Browning property of which, though seldom used, it forms the northern boundary. In recent times the road divided; one branch being brought along the southwestern border of the same estate. Thus at present this estate lies between the old road and the new one, made easier of ascent by being laid out in gentle windings and upgrades to the summit of the hill. The road now follows the natural bed of a little stream flowing from this Devon hill to the valley below.

Another change is noticeable now in the roadway where, at Conestoga Road, it crosses to Old Lancaster Pike. The road used to strike transversely across the homestead property of Mr. Michael Dallett. Certain large ash trees standing in the middle of his lawn in a row still mark the former course of the old road, clearly discernible to him who looks for it. The present course of the road necessitates a sharp turn to the left on Old Lancaster Pike which it follows two hundred feet before turning southward again.

The third deflection is observable a quarter of a mile north of St. David's Church where, at Welwyn Farm gate, the road now sweeps in a westward curve toward Clovelly Farm. The road originally went straight on through the trees to the north. Mr. Edward B. Halsey and Mr. Henry P. Conner have told the Rector that they remember a house which once stood by the side of the road a hundred feet north of Welwyn Farm gate. The house was a white frame cottage lived in by a colored woman whose name was Tillie.

Were Valley Forge Road gifted with speech what a wealth of local history, of intimate human experience, and of colorful colonial life would it reveal? It could tell of early Indians padding silently as shadows on peaceful purpose bent; of early settlers toiling along; of creaky wagons, slow swing paced oxen, plodding horses, buckskin-clad traders with fur caps, of children school-ward bound; of soldiers in regular or irregular order passing to and fro; of Wayne, Lafayette and Washington; of sturdy artisans and yeomen. Yea, of devout and decent folk gathering quietly for Sunday worship and of their earnest, faithful missionary pastors; and in recent years of devoted Christian folk who, like ourselves, would come for their anniversary Sunday observance.

Page 5

'Tis this way, as an indispensable means of grace, we would regard Valley Forge Road today. The sycamore tree from which little Zaccheus saw Jesus was to Zaccheus a means of grace. It brought him to Jesus and to salvation. This road discharges the outstanding and permanent function of a means of grace. It brings people to St. David's and to its altar, to Jesus and to God. Without it we could not come.

"Remove not the landmarks thy fathers have set."

If at times the landmarks undergo removal and deflection there must surely be upon the children of the Fathers the obligation to recall and reverently mark for themselves and for posterity the ancient lines and corners.

And as we rechart the trails and highways where physically our fathers were wont to go we shall again make the necessary discovery of the mental, patriotic, and religious tracks by which, figuratively, their souls travelled toward eternal life. The end of the journey whither these paths tend no less for us than for them will prove to be that sunless city whose only needed light is the Lord God Omnipotent even Jesus Christ.

By Crosswell McBee

Entrance to St. David's Churchyard