National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: _Valley Forge National Historical Park______________________________ Other names/site number: ______________________________________ Name of related multiple property listing: _______N/A____________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: _Roughly bounded by Pawlings and Audubon roads, U.S. Route 422, Interstate 76, and Valley Creek_ City or town: _Lower Providence, Schuylkill, Tredyffrin, Upper Merion, and West Norriton State: _Pennsylvania__ County: _Montgomery; Chester_ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B ___C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Valley Forge National Historical Park Montgomery/Chester County, PA Name of Property County and State In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: Public – Local Public – State X Public – Federal X Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) District X Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Valley Forge National Historical Park Montgomery/Chester County, PA Name of Property County and State Site Structure Object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing ____4________ ______82_______ buildings ___27________ _____ 1_______ sites ___11 ___ 12 structures __ 2 ________ ______17_______ objects ___44________ _____112_______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ____98_____ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) DEFENSE/military facility DEFENSE/fortification LANDSCAPE/park DOMESTIC/single dwelling DOMESTIC/village site AGRICULTURE/agricultural outbuilding AGRICULTURE/agricultural field EXTRACTION/extractive facility INDUSTRY/manufacturing facility TRANSPORTATION/road-related TRANSPORTATION/rail-related Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) LANDSCAPE/park RECREATION/CULTURE/outdoor recreation RECREATION/CULTURE/monument/marker Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Valley Forge National Historical Park Montgomery/Chester County, PA Name of Property County and State ____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) COLONIAL/Georgian OTHER/German Traditional MID-19TH CENTURY/Greek Revival MID-19TH CENTURY/Gothic Revival LATE VICTORIAN/Italianate LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY REVIVALS/Classical Revival Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: ___N/A_____________________ Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph Valley Forge National Historical Park (Valley Forge NHP) preserves and commemorates the site of the 1777–78 winter encampment of the main body of the Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. The park is located in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It straddles the Schuylkill River and contains land in two counties (Chester and Montgomery) and five municipalities (Lower Providence, Schuylkill, Tredyffrin, Upper Merion, and West Norriton). The historic district boundaries encompass approximately 3,263 acres of the 3,465 acres Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Valley Forge National Historical Park Montgomery/Chester County, PA Name of Property County and State within the authorized boundary of the park.1 The district is bounded generally on the north by Pawlings and Audubon roads, on the east by U.S. Route 422, on the south by Interstate 76 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike), and on the west by a line of convenience west of Valley Creek, with the Schuylkill River coursing west to east through roughly the center of the district . Lands within the authorized boundary that are excluded from the National Register boundary include peripheral areas of modern development (primarily privately owned). The Washington Memorial Chapel complex, which is located on a 32-acre parcel of land along the north edge of Route 23, is also excluded from the district because it is not within the authorized legislated boundary of the park. The National Park Service owns all property included in the district boundary except the Valley Forge Road Bridge and the Valley Creek Covered Bridge, which are owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and the privately owned Norfolk Southern Railroad rail line along the southern bank of the Schuylkill. Multiple layers of historic development have shaped the district’s landscape, and its significance extends beyond the Revolutionary War encampment. The district includes 142 contributing early eighteenth- through mid-twentieth-century historic resources associated with the encampment and its commemoration, art, architecture, landscape architecture, and local agriculture and industry.2 A total of 112 resources are categorized as non-contributing. A small number of resources were evaluated as non-contributing because they either lack integrity or do not possess significant historical associations with the areas of significance defined in this nomination. The large majority are categorized as non-contributing because they were constructed after district’s period of significance, which ends in 1949,when the restoration-focused development program laid out by the Valley Forge Park Commission in 1936 and overseen by preservation architect George Edwin Brumbaugh was completed. Some were developed during the late 1960s for administrative purposes or during the mid-1970s as part of the preparation for the national celebration of the Bicentennial. In the future, an amendment to this National Register documentation may be appropriate when analysis is 1 The term “authorized boundary” refers to the land that has been authorized under legislation passed by the United States Congress for inclusion in a National Park. According to the National Park Service’s Cultural Resource Management Guideline (NPS-28) Appendix Q, National Register boundaries for historical parks are the authorized park boundaries, regardless of land ownership, unless and until the NPS has otherwise