The National Memorial Arch - Valley Forge National Historical Park - King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Posted by: 
gparkes
N 40° 05.513 W 075° 26.308
18T E 462622 N 4438047
The National Memorial Arch sits in a very prominent view along the driving tour of Valley Forge.
Waymark Code: WMAKYX
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/27/2011
Views: 20
The National Memorial Arch was authorized by Congress in 1910 as a tribute to George Washington and his army who edured the winter encampment at Valley Forge in 1777 - 1778. It was designed by Paul Phillipe Cret, a prominent Philadelphia architect, and dedicated on June 19, 1917.
* Information quoted in part from information marker at the site of the National Memorial Arch.
Quotes on the National Memorial Arch read:
Naked and Starving as they are we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery
Washington at Valley Forge Feburary 16, 1778
And here in this place of sacrice, in this vale of humiliation, in this valley of the shadow of that death out of which the life of America rose regenerate and free let us believe with an abiding faith that to them union will seem as dear and liberty as sweet and progress as glorious. They were to our fathers and are to you and me and that the institutions which have made us happy preserved by the virtue of our children shall bless the remotests generation to the time to come.
Henery Armitt Brown
(Said during his oritation at the 100 year anniversary of breaking of the winter encampment at Valley Forge. June 19, 1878.)
On the aproach side of the arch, as you would tour the park, it says:
To the officers and private soldiers
of the Continental Army
December 19, 1777 June 19, 1778
Opposite from Henery Armitt Brown's quote names the officers in charge during the encampment, which reads:
Commander in Chief
George Washington
Major Generals
De Kalb
Greene
LaFayette
Lee
Mifflin
Steuben
Stirling
Sullivan
Brigadier Generals
Armstrong
Du Portail
Glover
Hunington
Knox
Learned
McIntosh
Maxwell
Muhlenberg
Patterson
Poor
Scott
Smallwood
Varnum
Wayne
Weedon
Woodford
Pulaski
The condition of the Arch deteriorated to the point where the area was encircled with caution tape, keeping visitors from getting close and viewing the area. Freemasons of Pennsylvainia contributed more than $1.5 million to restore the Arch. Between 1996 and 1997, work took place correcting structural repairs. Nine tons of structural steel was added to the attic space stabilizing the Arch. At the completion of the restoration, as is today, the Arch once again is open for visitation by all.