Washington’s headquarters (home of Isaac Potts), open daily, 8 A.M. to 6 P.M., is arranged as when he occupied it; Washington Inn was used as army bakery during encampment, ovens in basement, originally home of Colonel William Dewees, sheriff of Philadelphia, and owner, with John Potts, of the forge; the Star Redoubt; the Defenders’ Gate; Cemetery; and View from observatory on Mount Joy are interesting; Museum of American History contains rare relics of Washington and the war.
Washington Memorial Protestant Episcopal chapel, and the Cloister of the Colonies, in which each of the thirteen colonies will be represented by a bay, in the center of each is the colonial seal in brass; ceiling, hand carved oak, in the central boss of each, the state coat of arms; the Cloister incloses the Garth in which is a bronze statue, “Sacrifice and Devotion,” by Bela Pratt, in honor of the mothers of the nation; the porch gates were wrought by Samuel Yellin, hammered in the iron are the symbols of the four Evangelists, the lock has a miniature Liberty Bell as a keeper, and the sliding bolt passes through the knapsack of a Continental soldier, guarding the lock; windows in the chapel from D’Ascenzo Studios. Waterman Monument marks the grave of only identified soldier buried here.
Across the Schuylkill is Fat Land built by James Vaux; Washington slept here September 21, 1777; the next day, Sir William Howe came here and almost caught him. At Port Kennedy, one and one-half miles east of Valley Forge, prehistoric bones of sabretooth tigers and extinct animals are found. West of Valley Forge, Mill Grove, built, 1762, still standing, residence of John James Audubon; here he studied, painted, and wrote about “Birds of America” that have made him world-famous. Near, at the mouth of Perkiomen Creek, Washington’s army encamped at Richardson’s Ford, September 21, after marching all night, wet breast-high, and hungry, one thousand men without shoes. Howe moved on west of Schuylkill toward Reading, the depot of American supplies, having burned buildings at Valley Forge on his way, and reached Phœnixville, Fountain Inn. Washington marched his troops to Upper Hanover, within four miles of Pottstown; his headquarters was residence of John Potts, built 1753; and sent General Wayne with fifteen hundred men to harass the rear of British army under General Gray, but they were outnumbered by the British, and massacred at Paoli; marked by two monuments.
PERKIOMEN BRIDGE, BUILT 1798, COLLEGEVILLE
Photograph by Fred P. Powers
Pottstown, founded by John Potts, population 17,431; noted for its iron industries since 1716; Mill Park Hotel, built, 1752, for residence of founder, who was visited here by Washington. Friends Meeting House, built, 1752, ground given by John Potts; he also gave ground for Zion Lutheran Church, Georgian, 1753. Residences of founder’s three sons, Dr. Jonathan Potts, Director General of Hospitals, Northern Department, in the Revolutionary War, “Stowe,” west of Pottstown; Samuel Potts, east of Pottstown, now “Hill School”; John Potts, Jr., a Tory judge, corner of High and Hanover Streets, center of town, later, residence of General Arthur St. Clair; Daughters of the American Revolution tablet on side. Emmanuel Lutheran Church, architects, Lechman & Murphy, windows from D’Ascenzo Studios; Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, Gothic; brownstone; good memorial windows; was received in Convention in 1827; Pottstown Hospital is controlled by Board of Women Managers, also the Library, in which art exhibitions are shown.
Not until William Penn came was any effort made to manufacture iron in Pennsylvania. Having iron furnaces of his own at Hawkhurst, England, he was interested to encourage the industry here. Thomas Rutter, Bailiff of Germantown from 1705-06, after Pastorius, moved up the Schuylkill on patent of land from William Penn, deed still in the family, and established in 1717, the “Pool Forge,” on Manatawny Creek, three miles above Pottstown; he was first in Pennsylvania to manufacture iron; ore is still being mined from the same beds. Among the great names in our early iron industry, Rutter and Potts stand pre-eminent; the list of forges and furnaces on the Manatawny and its branches, owned by their intermarried families, before the Revolution, include Mount Pleasant furnace and forge; Spring forge; Colebrookdale furnace and forge; Amity forge; Rutter’s forge; Pool forges; Pine forge and Little Pine forge.
Near Boyertown is Ringing Rocks, a natural curiosity; they make a complete octave. Michael Schlatter preached at Manatawny in 1748, also in the Reformed Church, built in 1743. McCalls, or Glasgow Forge, on Manatawny Creek, still in operation, was erected in 1725, on land conveyed by William Penn to his son, John, in 1701; 14,600 acres; sold to George McCall of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1735; who also had interest in Colebrookdale furnace managed by Thomas Potts, Jr., which supplied McCall’s forge with pig iron. Green Lane Forge, on Perkiomen Creek, notable for its excellent blooms, was built in 1733 by Thomas Mayberry; earliest settler in Marlborough township, who bought 1210 acres, supplied with pig iron from Durham Furnace, Bucks County; equipment, water wheel, huge bellows, tuyere pipe, open hearth forge, melting pots, and conelike charcoal kilns.