Valley Forge National Historical Park Visitor Center

OPERATING HOURS

Valley Forge National Historical Park Visitor Center is typically open every day from 9 AM to 5 PM except when closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Keep in mind that times can always change, so before heading to the park, be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page.

Information desk at the Valley Forge National Historical Park Visitor Center

LOCATION

The Valley Forge National Historical Park Visitor Center is located at 1440 North Outer Line Drive in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The main parking lot is around the corner from the building. Depending on where you get a parking space, the walk to the front door could be as far as a quarter mile. There is another parking lot for those with a handicap parking permit that is right in front of the entrance. Anyone can drive to this parking lot and drop off people, but you can’t park there unless you have a permit.

There are four electric vehicle parking spaces with charging stations at the main parking lot as well as a restroom facility and bike rental stands.

Restroom building at the Visitor Center parking lot at Valley Forge National Historical Park

AMENITIES

• Ranger-staffed information desk where you can pick up a park brochure and trail map
• Book and souvenir store
• Park film
• Get tickets for park tours
• Museum
• Restrooms

Inside the Visitor Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park

PARK FILM

A 19-minute film titled Determined to Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment shows at the Visitor Center theater, which is located in a separate building. Take the stairs behind the Visitor Center’s main desk to the second floor and exit the building. Once outside, signs point the way to the theater.

The film is a modern, live-action documentary with hundreds of costumed reenactors dramatizing the events at Valley Forge. Much of the film was shot at the park. When you venture out to explore, you’ll recognize the replica wooden cabins constructed by the state of Pennsylvania when Valley Forge was a state park. There is a short battle scene that might scare young children, but other than that, the film has no objectionable material and is suited for nearly all ages.

Determined to Persevere shows every half hour, with the last show at 4:30 PM. For those who want to save time and watch the film before heading to the park, it is available on YouTube and the National Park Service’s Videos web page for Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Theater building at the Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitor Center

MUSEUM

Museum exhibits at the Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitor Center

The Visitor Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park houses a fairly large museum that focuses on the events and accomplishments that occurred at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. The museum is topic-oriented, not chronological order-oriented, so there is no certain way to proceed through the exhibit area…at least as far as I could tell. However, this does not make a tour of the museum any less confusing. There are three isles, and no matter which way you go—snake through them or take the outer two and then cut back through the middle—you may find that the arrangement of topics doesn’t always make sense. For example, I found myself reading about the new training tactics developed by General Friedrich Wilhelm Baron von Steuben. Von Steuben? Who the hell is von Steuben? Did I miss something? Somewhere in the museum there must be an exhibit introducing von Steuben that I should have come to before the exhibit on military training. There are footprints on the floor that led me to believe that I should be following them, but they actually head in various directions all at once and don’t even appear in some parts of the museum, so I ultimately ended up wandering back and forth looking for exhibits I missed. I’m sure that most people couldn’t care less, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the museum could be laid out better.

Middle isle of the Valley Forge Visitor Center museum covers the end of the American Revolution

A lacking layout aside, the exhibits are visually appealing, and there is a lot of information packed into a rather small area. I learned a few things that I did not know, the most interesting being that the American Revolution was really a world war. When France, Spain, and the Netherlands signed up to help the American Patriots, that also meant they had to fight England and its allies all over the world (which in truth is why they joined the Patriots in the first place):  the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, India, and various places in Europe.

Other topics in the museum include how the Continental Army was formed; daily life at Valley Forge during the encampment; 18th century medical practices; weapons used during the war (actual weapons are on display); how the Valley Forge landscape was ruined by the 12,000 people who camped there; and how the encampment area was preserved, which resulted in the creation of Valley Forge State Park and ultimately Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Valley Forge Visitor Center Museum exhibit on the preservation of the Valley Forge encampment area

Exhibit on mid-18th century medicine at Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitor Center museum

Exhibit on the creation of the Continental Army at Valley Forge Visitor Center museum

While most of the museum is comprised of information panels, there are also many artifacts and a few videos. There is even an area where kids of any age can build their own huts out of Lincoln Logs.

Build your own soldier huts at the Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitor Center

Display of 18th century weapons at the Valley Forge National Historical Park Visitor Center museum

In addition to information on Valley Forge and the American Revolution, in the main lobby area of the Visitor Center is a section where you can get information about all attractions in the Philadelphia area.

General Philadelphia-area tourist information is also available at the Valley Forge Visitor Center

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

If you want to watch the park film and read all of the information in the museum, plan to spend about an hour and a half doing so. Of course that’s more than most people have in mind, but at least take time to watch the film and spend fifteen minutes or so in the museum. It pays to know something about the history of Valley Forge before setting off to explore the encampment area.

VALLEY FORGE ENCAMPMENT TOUR

The Visitor Center is the first stop on the Valley Forge Encampment Tour. A 10-mile road winds through the park and leads to seven more points of interest.

Tour Stop 2 | Encampment Tour Main Page

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