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Post date: Mar 27, 2017 2:28:9 AM
Regardless of your thoughts on climate change there is do doubt that the East Coast weather this spring has been bipolar in nature. Yesterday temperatures were in the high 70’s today they did not rise up above the mid 40’s. Starting the day on such a cold note I could not help but take advantage of the ambiance by diverting my morning to visit Valley Forge. I figured if I was going to hear tales of the continental army being hunkered down over the cold winter I may as well be cold while doing it. My decision was rewarded with a warm trolley tour to some very cold places within the Valley Forge National Park. Like the Jamestown Settlement this park had a few living history period experts dressed in period costume at some locations in the park. Being invited into a log and mud soldiers soldiers hut is much more visceral when the hut is occupied by soldiers and there is an actual fire in the cramped quarters keeping everyone from freezing. I particularly enjoyed the US Marine dressed as a continental soldier, which put context not only to the winter encampment, but also to firearms both past and present. A demonstration of the drill steps involved in firing a flintlock rifle is much more in context when the woman presenting can also give point-by-point comparisons to the M16.
When my morning tour was over my intent was to travel the 20 or so miles to Philadelphia proper and find a hotel. In locating the visitor’s center I also found myself standing in front of Independence Hall, one of the sights I was going to visit as soon as I warmed and rested up from the morning. However, at the visitor’s center I chanced to query the park rangers about access and was informed that tickets given out every morning regulate access to the Hall. As one ranger was explaining that I should return tomorrow at or before 8:30am, another appeared behind the information desk offering me a single ticket for the tour starting in 20 minutes (sometimes it pays to travel solo). I gratefully accepted the ticket and went to view the rooms where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were ratified. At the end of the tour is a small gallery containing original printings of the Constitution, Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence. The most impressive part of the afternoon was the conversation I found myself in with the Park Ranger monitoring the room and a few of the other visitors. On this trip I have been thinking a lot about this country, our government, and our principles and ideals. Yet so far, I have not run into any of my random fellow citizens who were similarly engaged, beyond expressing their own opinions. Just by being in the room with a few pieces of paper representing some pretty fundamental ideals, I found myself engaged in thoughtful analysis with my fellow citizens, (I did not even know their names). We had a civil constructive dialogue where multiple points of view were expressed about the current state of our nation and its relationship to the principles our founding fathers wrote into these documents. The conversation lasted well over a half an hour and gave me some hope that there are thoughtful, well educated people among us who recognize not only our founding principles but also some of the challenges we are currently facing in our civil dialogue. It was personally, a very hopeful way to end the day... and even more satisfying than the Philly Cheese Steaks I treated myself to afterwards…
"The Room Where It Happened"
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