An iron forge was established in this remote place in the early 1700s because Valley Creek provided ample water power, limestone was available for processing iron ore, and timber supplied charcoal for the furnaces. Around the forge grew dams and mill races, charcoal houses, a saw mill, grist mill, company store, and tenement houses, forming the nucleus of an iron village that eventually took the name Valley Forge from the forge on which it depended. Before the British raid and American occupation, this small village was typical of isolated rural communities that developed around readily available natural resources, and although it stood in a region known for iron making, it was not a highly important producer. Valley Forge recovered from the devastation of the encampment and became a busy manufacturing community, with wharves at the foot of Valley Creek for loading products onto the new canal and a railroad built in the 1840s that provided faster transportation to Philadelphia and beyond. As industry moved to the cities in the late 19th century, the village declined, and after Pennsylvania established a park here in 1893, most buildings dating from after the encampment were demolished, leaving a beautiful landscape that obscures many layers of history.
