Valley Forge and Pennsbury Manor, Pennsylvania

Valley Forge National Historical Site, Pennsylvania

 

Sam (clutching a box of crackers) inside a reconstructed hut similar to what would have housed 12 patriot soldiers. George Washington's army spent a winter and a spring in winter camp here (about 6 months) in 1777-1778. History is nice, but how did they survive without Cheez-It's back then?

On a guided hour of the encampment park in a trolley

Stopover at Washington's headquarters. The wooden huts in the back are where the general's guarding troops would have been

At the Valley Forge visitor's center.

 

Pennsbury Manor, Morrisville, Pennsylvania

This is a reconstructed home of William Penn, the first governor of Pennsylvania (the word Pennsylvania means "Penn's woods", the land that the English king gave to William Penn's father in the 17th century. I wonder what it would be like to own all of Pennsylvania (about the size of Greece, or Bulgaria). Pennsbury Manor was William Penn's country "cottage", and he took a boat like this down the river there from Philadelphia in the summer

 

Making apple cider: Step 1: Crush apples. Sam really enjoyed this one and went at for a while!

 

Step 2: press and squeeze the crushed apples

 

Step 3: have fun drinking apple cider you just made!

In the Pennsbury Manor garden

Hmmm. That vehicle of Penn's must have had very high clearance. Horse SUV?

The Bronx Zoo has a great variety of animals... even dinosaurs!

Last Sunday we went to the Bronx Zoo in New York. Sam really enjoyed the company of his friends Zia and Noa!

 Sarah, Noa, Zia and Sam are enjoying an African safari ride on a zoo monorail.

 Nostalgia struck for the good old days when Sam used to have a stroller...

Dinosaur safari.  We rode around in trucks around a jungle full of kinematronic dinosaurs, who moved around and made noises at us.

Sam's favorite was the T-Rex.

Afterwards, Zia and Sam tried their hand digging for dinosaur bones.

The Historical Village at Allaire State Park, New Jersey

Today we checked out Allaire Village, which was a site of an ironworks factory in 1830's. It was a self-sufficient community with a store, worker housing, school/church, and other buildings, many of which still stand. 

Wheelwright's shop

We also got to ride the train which is 110 years old, which took us around the park.

After the ride, Sammy got to come inside the locomotive.

The most fun part was when the train driver even showed Sam the train controls, and how to blow the train whisle!

New Paltz, Hudson Valley, New York

Last weekend we went to the Hudson Valley, the town of New Paltz, New York.

 

Woof, woof!

The fields near New Paltz with the view of the nearby mountains

 

Checking out the pumpkins

 

This place is called Walkway Over the Hudson. It is the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. It goes from the New Paltz area on the east side of Hudson to Poughkeepsie on the west side of the Hudson river. This bridge is a NY state park.

 

River banks as seen from the Walkway Over the Hudson

 

We also visited Huguenot Street, which is a historical area of New Paltz. This historic district consists of several houses built in the 18th century by the Huguenot families, who came to the US to escape persecution of their religion in France. Now the buildings and the area around them are a museum.  

 

Our tour guide took us inside the original Huguenot church and a colonial house. Here we are inside a living room of a 18th century house, which also served as a shop for the merchant who lived here.

Hiking in Minnewaska State Park. It has several "mountain lakes", or lakes which are high up in the mountains.  

Minnewaska State Park

 

 

We made a loop around one of the mountain lakes 

 

Hiking to a waterfall, Minnewaska State Park

Boscobel House and the town of Cold Spring, New York

  View from the Boscobel House and Gardens over the Hudson Valley

 

Boscobel was built in 1804 by a local aristocratic family loyal who had been loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War. 

 

 

We took a tour of the house. Sam got to learn how sugar cones were cut into small pieces, and how chamber pots were used. Also kids weren't even allowed into the main living room area until they were 14 with respectable company.

 

Trail behind Boscobel house and gardens

 

 The village of Cold Spring, New York, Riverfront park, overlooking the Hudson river

 

How about absorbing some history while taking a nap on a historical iron cast bench? This bench is practivally begging for it as it is exactly Sammy-size. Zzzzzzzz. 

Sam is at Putnam County Historical Society museum. Cold Spring foundries specialized in producing iron for both civilian and military use in 1850s.