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New Slate of Officers Elected by Board at Annual Membership Meeting
Incoming chairman Don Naimoli made the following brief statement to the members in attendance:
“A huge thank you to all of you who have stood up in support of the Park by joining The Friends of Valley Forge Park. This has been a very exciting year of change for the Friends as an organization. Just as the Park no longer can operate as it has in decades past, neither can the Friends. It is now time to move to a new level and your board has taken up that challenge. We must now position ourselves to be a true voice for the Park as well as a voice for the ever-increasing community of citizens that have a stake in this Park’s history and its environmental health.
This is no longer the park of years past. No longer can we take for granted the financing from Congress so necessary to maintain the Park at a level that we all would like. The pressures from urbanization that the Park endures on all sides continues to increase. The number of people who use and enjoy the Park continues to rise – and that is a good thing but it does take a toll on the facilities and the landscape. The ecosystem within the park is also a concern. While the Park has begun the steps necessary to deal with the largest impact issues, there is more to be done. All of this takes resources. The Park needs the help of the Friends to raise those resources from private sources as well as to pound on the congressional door for help.
The community – our community - now has a Shared Stewardship with the Park. It is our park and we must take some responsibility for it. The Friends will lead the way in this endeavor. To fulfill our responsibilities we must, once again, raise an army at Valley Forge - an army of citizens just like you. The Park needs every one of you now more than at any time in its 104-year history. So I thank you for standing to be counted and I ask that you do me a favor. Recruit one new member to the Friends – we, as well as the Park, need every single member we can muster. Just ask that they stand to be counted – if they wish to do more that is welcomed but, at a minimum, just join with us”.

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War Comes to the Perkiomen Peninsula - Temporary Exhibit at Lower Providence Township Building
Pennsylvania’s historic Perkiomen Peninsula, now part of Lower Providence Township, played a key role during the Valley Forge winter encampment of 1777-1778. From the arrival of the Continental Army in December 1777, the peninsula provided an important strategic location for defense of the encampment. As winter progressed, the land was the site of the newly organized Commissary Department, so vital for the survival of Washington’s army. The land also served as the staging area from which the army left the Valley Forge encampment and marched on to victory at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778.
The temporary exhibit, War Comes to the Perkiomen Peninsula, offers the public the opportunity to understand the significant role that Lower Providence Township lands played during the historic Valley Forge encampment.
The exhibit, prepared by staff of Valley Forge National Historical Park, includes illustrations, photographs, and copies of actual letters and quotations written by officers of the Continental Army expressing the significance of the site. Archeological artifacts excavated from the encampment by the National Park Service complete the viewer’s understanding of the unique location.
War Comes to the Perkiomen Peninsula will be on display at the Lower Providence Township Municipal Office from September 6^th through December 2007. The township offices are located at 100 Parkland Drive, Eagleville, Pennsylvania.

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Vault Tours Now Open to the Public at Valley Forge National Historical Park
For the first time ever two vaults at Valley Forge National Historical Park, storing more than 1,600 Revolutionary-era items, will be open to the public. Visitors will get the story of the American Revolution from a unique standpoint, the nature of the weapons and other artifacts with which the war was fought. "It was the effective use of these weapons that allowed the common soldier of America's War for Independence to eventually achieve American
independence” said Museum Specialist Scott Houting.
Accumulated over a 20-year period by a Massachusetts historian, George C. Neumann, the collection was jointly purchased by the National Park Service and the Sun Oil Company of Philadelphia in 1978. The items from the weapons collection consist of four separate, yet related, parts: Firearms; edged weapons that comprise the largest single grouping within the collection; auxiliary edged weapons like pole arms which were spear-point blades mounted on long wooden poles, and bayonets, belt axes and knives. The fourth category includes accoutrements and
accessories, like canteens, cooking and eating utensils, bullet molds, bottles, leather cartridge boxes and belts.
The collection is arranged as a study collection, not only documenting the weapons carried into battle, but the additional military equipment and personal items common to the Revolutionary soldier. One article of particular interest is a letter dated December 23, 1777, from Gen. Washington to the Continental Congress requesting urgently needed supplies for the encampment to prevent the possible demise of his army. “I am now convinced beyond a doubt that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place, this army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things, starve, dissolve or disperse in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can” wrote Washington in a nine-page letter to then Continental Congress President Henry Laurens of South Carolina.
Welcome Center, tours will be conducted every first and third Saturday at 11 a.m. starting September 15 and will be limited to eight people per group. Cost is $10 for adults and $8 for students, seniors and military personnel. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 610-783-1020..

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Valley Forge Lands 3 Projects on the Centennial Challenge List!
Three proposals from Valley Forge National Historical Park were among 201 proposals announced by National Park Service Director Mary Bomar and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. “The National Park Service, has, after a rigorous review, certified these proposals as eligible for centennial challenge matching funds,” Bomar said. “And they are ready to go in Fiscal Year 2008 which begins Oct. 1” Director Bomar said, “The centennial challenge is a critical element in the National Park Centennial Initiative put forward by President Bush and unveiled by Secretary Kempthorne one year ago. The full centennial initiative is a potential $3 billion investment in our national parks, two-thirds of it a public-private partnership of matching money.”
The President’s fiscal year 2008 budget called for an additional $100 million a year for 10 years to be dedicated to bolster basic park operations, Bomar said. Congress has included the first $100 million for operations in the fiscal year 2008 budget that awaits final passage.
“The second part of the initiative is the centennial challenge – a funding mechanism to match up to $100 million a year over 10 years of public money with $100 million a year for 10 years in private donations,” Bomar said. “Congress has yet to finish legislation necessary to create the public-private centennial challenge.” Financial commitments to the first round of proposals exceeded the President’s challenge. “We have about $370 million in proposals with not $100 million in private commitments but $216 million committed from park visitors, friends groups and other partners,” Bomar said.
The Valley Forge proposals certified as eligible to receive matching funds include a multimedia show for Washington’s Headquarters, a new connector trail at Washington’s Headquarters, and the expansion of Once Upon a Nation programming at the park. To be certified, proposals had to be imaginative and innovative, addressed critical Service needs, had a philanthropic partner, required little or no additional recurring operating funds to be sustainable, improved the efficiency of park management operations and employees and produce measurable results. “Partnerships are alive and well at Valley Forge” said Superintendent Mike Caldwell. “This is great news and it would not have been possible without the support from our partners in the community who have pledge over $185,000 in funding to match the potential centennial challenge funds.”
The full list of centennial challenge-eligible projects and programs is available on-line at the National Park Service centennial web site www.nps.gov/2016.

Valley Forge National Historical Park Proposal Highlights:

Multimedia Show for Washington’s Headquarters – This project will develop and produce a multimedia production for the Valley Forge train station located adjacent to Washington’s Headquarters. The train station is currently being rehabilitated into a visitor contact station and is scheduled for completion in late 2008. The production will be a centerpiece of the orientation at this area of the park. This project is being supported by a pledge of $100,000 from the Friends of Valley Forge Park and the Encampment Store. "Inclusion of this component of the Washington Headquarters area improvements in the centennial challenge is wonderful. This project will absolutely bring George Washington and his leadership alive for visitors," said Don Naimoli, board member of the Friends of Valley Forge Park. "The Friends have been long time supporters of the preservation of the Headquarters building and it has long been a dream to also provide a great educational experience as part of visitors trip to this area of the park” added Naimoli. “The Encampment Store joins with the Friends of Valley Forge Park in our excitement about hearing the news that the multimedia program for Washington's Headquarters has been certified as eligible for centennial challenge funds" said Daria Fink, Executive Director of the Encampment Store. "As the park's cooperating association, the Encampment Store understands the benefits of collaboration and we are honored to offer our funding commitment make this project a reality".

Connector Trail at Washington’s Headquarters – This project will create a 900 liner foot trail that links the Washington’s Headquarters area with the Valley Creek Trail and the Joseph Plumb Martin trail. This is one of the key improvements identified in Valley Forge’s new General Management Plan and will greatly enhance the trail system at the park. "We are delighted that the Washington's Headquarters Connector Trail at Valley Forge has been selected as part of the centennial challenge--the project supports investment in the popular trails network of the park. The trail system provides all visitors, no matter what their interest or activity, with direct links to the natural and historic treasures of the park," said Don Naimoli, board member of the Friends of Valley Forge Park.
Expansion of Once Upon A Nation Storytelling Programming at Valley Forge – Guaranteed to educate and entertain, these one-of-a-kind storytelling benches are in three locations around Valley Forge National Historical Park. Storytellers share riveting stories of the encampment and the American Revolution at the signature 13-foot curved Once Upon A Nation benches. "Once Upon A Nation’s programming with Valley Forge has been an unqualified success with wonderful visitor feedback. The potential funding from the centennial challenge will enable us to expand and enhance programming for future visitors to this important site", said Amy Needle, President and CEO of Historic Philadelphia, Inc., Once Upon A Nation’s parent organization. "Being part of the centennial challenge will allow us to continue to tell compelling stories about our country's founding in entertaining and meaningful ways.".

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