The heat wave has abated, and we need to keep hiking. We visited Brandywine Battlefield Park, commemorating the largest single-day land battle of the American Revolution. The battle involved nearly 30,000 soldiers over a ten-square mile area, on September 11, 1777. The park covers only 52 acres at the center of General George Washington's continental encampment.
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| West from the Visitor Center, we went downhill to cross this bridge, then climbed up a steep hill |
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| Ice house (belonging to the Ring House), where ice that was cut from the river during the winter could be kept all summer |
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| Benjamin Ring House (1731) belonged to a Quaker farmer and mill operator, who would not have been involved in war, yet George Washington used the home as his headquarters during the Battle of Brandywine |
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| The drive leads to a horse mount |
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| Kitchen garden |
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| Brandywine Baptist Church (organized 1715, church 1808) is not part of the Brandywine Battlefield Park |
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| Spring house below the Gilpin House hill |
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| The Historic Sycamore Tree (Platanus occidentalis) or "Lafayette Tree" is said to be where 19-year old Marquis de Lafayette rested after being wounded in the leg during the Battle of Brandywine, his first action in the American Revolution |
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| Kent with the large trunk of the sycamore tree |
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| The Gideon Gilpin House (1754 with additions) belonged to another Quaker farmer, and was NOT used as the quarters for the Marquis de Lafayette, but rather became headquarters for British General Howe in the afternoon of September 11 |
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| Gilpin House beehive oven |
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| Gilpin root house |
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| Blacksmith shop |
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| Carriage house-barn |
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| Corn crib |
