AlteSeele
Senior Registered
Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and thought I'd share some experiences of my Colonial American lifetime and how I became aware of it. This particular lifetime started with some faint memories and impressions of when I was a child in my current lifetime and centered around Valley Forge. Valley Forge was where the Colonial American Army camped during the winter of 1776-1777.
So, here goes!
But it wasn’t the cherry trees I was interested in, nor the huge memorial honoring the soldiers who wintered there in 1776-1777 — it was a humble log cabin that got my curiosity. My father walked with me to the cabin so I could have a closer look at it. I poked my head inside and remember thinking to myself that this is where the soldiers slept and lived. I don’t remember how I knew that, I just did. I knew it before my father explained it to me.
I also remember being fascinated by a statue of a man on a horse. Later I learned it was a statue of General Anthony Wayne. But there was something familiar about where that statue was located. I had a nagging sensation of there having been a large building in the woods not far from the statue. Those woods these days are referred to as “Wayne’s Woods”. Of course when you’re chaperoned by your parents you’re not free to go exploring in the woods on your own to go look for a building, so that had to wait. But I did get my answer decades later.
Later that year in school we learned about George Washington and his wife, Martha. I was the only one in my class who had visited Valley Forge and was excited to tell my classmates all about my visit and about how the soldiers had lived.
During that same class the teacher showed us a portrait of Martha Washington. I looked at the photo and recognized her. And, the first word that came to my mind was, “fusspot”. I could not shake the sense of how familiar this woman was to me. She was caring and kind, yet a bit on the overbearing side in a mother hen sort of way, hence the term "fusspot". I don’t know how I knew this. I just did.
Throughout my school years I didn’t have a huge interest in American history. I thought it was all rather boring. I wanted to learn more about how the people lived, what they wore, the crafts they did, etc. But our American history classes dealt more with the political end of things and date memorization. Boring.
But that would all change when I was an adult.
To be continued....
So, here goes!
Part 1
My first visit to Valley Forge in this lifetime was when I was around 5-6 years old. My parents often visited friends in the area and we’d stop at the park to see the cherry trees that were growing there at the time. Those trees are no longer there because they succumbed to a blight a few decades ago. But it wasn’t the cherry trees I was interested in, nor the huge memorial honoring the soldiers who wintered there in 1776-1777 — it was a humble log cabin that got my curiosity. My father walked with me to the cabin so I could have a closer look at it. I poked my head inside and remember thinking to myself that this is where the soldiers slept and lived. I don’t remember how I knew that, I just did. I knew it before my father explained it to me.
I also remember being fascinated by a statue of a man on a horse. Later I learned it was a statue of General Anthony Wayne. But there was something familiar about where that statue was located. I had a nagging sensation of there having been a large building in the woods not far from the statue. Those woods these days are referred to as “Wayne’s Woods”. Of course when you’re chaperoned by your parents you’re not free to go exploring in the woods on your own to go look for a building, so that had to wait. But I did get my answer decades later.
Later that year in school we learned about George Washington and his wife, Martha. I was the only one in my class who had visited Valley Forge and was excited to tell my classmates all about my visit and about how the soldiers had lived.
During that same class the teacher showed us a portrait of Martha Washington. I looked at the photo and recognized her. And, the first word that came to my mind was, “fusspot”. I could not shake the sense of how familiar this woman was to me. She was caring and kind, yet a bit on the overbearing side in a mother hen sort of way, hence the term "fusspot". I don’t know how I knew this. I just did.
Throughout my school years I didn’t have a huge interest in American history. I thought it was all rather boring. I wanted to learn more about how the people lived, what they wore, the crafts they did, etc. But our American history classes dealt more with the political end of things and date memorization. Boring.
But that would all change when I was an adult.
To be continued....