Moland House, in Warwick Township, recently turned back time to the nation's founding.
Attendees at the 248th anniversary reenactment of Washington's encampment at Moland House on August 16th saw skirmishes between Redcoats and the Continental army, recruitment of loyalists, offers of amnesty, artillery checks, enlistments in the Continental army, and General George Washington reviewing his troops. Besides reenactments, vendors featuring wool and flax spinning, folk painting, colonial cooking, woodworking, and a printing press lined the site's grounds.
In 1777, the Moland House served as Washington's headquarters while he and his 11,000 troops encamped near the Neshaminy Creek for thirteen days to try to determine the movements of the British army. At Moland House, the Marquis de Lafayette was commissioned as major general, and Casimir Pulaski, the father of the American Calvary, joined the army.
Murrie Gayman, a board member of the Warwick Township Historical Society and professional painter who painted folk art at the event, has been involved with the Moland House since its restoration began in 1996. Gayman lives across Old York Road from the Moland House, the former location of Major General Nathanael Greene's headquarters. In 1985, the Moland House was abandoned.
"I didn't know what this house was. It was rotting. Initially, I said, 'I hope they knock that piece of junk down, because it's going to lower my real estate values,'" Gayman said.
Soon enough, members of the historic society informed Gayman that the site is where Lafeyette joined with Washington. Gayman, a lover of French culture, was intrigued.
"When I heard that Lafayette joined Washington here, I was shocked," Gayman said. "I joined the society, and I've been working ever since to restore it and to make the place more known to the public."
Gayman said the Moland House's first reenactment was about 12 years ago, once the board decided the site was restored enough after it had previously been a "dump". Since then, the number of exhibits at the event has grown from a few to about twenty-five. Gayman said the society holds the reenactment during the same thirteen-day period of Washington's encampment. From the site of Moland House, the army marched to Brandywine, then Germantown, and finally to Valley Forge.
The event's master of ceremonies for the last two years has been Michael Carver, a colonial brewmeister, who recruits most of the vendors. The annual reenactment raises about $3,000, as Moland House's biggest fundraiser of the year, and pays for insurance and maintenance of the property. The team behind the Moland House, who are all unpaid volunteers and who Gayman says help "for the love of the place," have kept up the property to the extent people are able to hold weddings, and for high schoolers to take prom pictures.
"Everybody who comes here loves it, and we want more people to come. Our job is to make it more well-known, because it is historically the most significant structure in Bucks County," Gayman said. "A lot of people say, 'I pass it every day, but I've never been here.' We're trying to get people to know more about it."
Noah Lewis portrays revolutionary war figure Edward Hector, who came to the event as an independent reenactor and educator. Lewis speaks at schools and other sites, through the voice of Hector, to teach people about the contribution black people made in helping the colonies win the war. Hector was a free Black man and acted as a teamster and bombardier. He fought in the Battle of Germantown, and additionally, the Battle of Brandywine, where he was considered a hero for braving a British attack and saving his horses, wagon, and some guns when ordered to retreat.
Perusing around the event portraying the tall and deep-voiced George Washington was Samuel Davis. In his childhood, Davis' father introduced him to Washington because he lived in Valley Forge and rode a horse. Through the voice of Washington, who Davis has been portraying for about thirteen years, Davis has given speeches at Moland House about topics such as the dark days of the American Revolution, and the important role of women in the revolution. Davis, speaking as Washington, elaborated on the local significance of the war and the sacrifice of the revolutionary war soldiers.
"The turning point was the battle of Trenton. If that never happened, the game would have been over, and if the Ten Crucial days didn't happen, we would be speaking with a British accent," Davis said. "Moland House brings history back to life for everyone. This area was the most important place before Valley Forge. We rested here because we really didn't know where General Howe was planning to go and to travel."
By his side was Isabelle Argueta, who portrayed Martha Washington. Argueta elaborated on the salience of commemorating the revolution in 2025.
"A lot of us have to re-center ourselves to know the true sacrifice of this country, especially now, because of where we are in time, and the way this country has been faced with a lot of shifts," Argueta said. "This is a refreshing reality of remembering exactly where this country was rooted and grounded in...It gives them a true appreciation for it, helps them reflect, and if no one carries this on, the younger generations won't pick up on it."
Tending to a fire, Harmony Swan, who is part of First Crossing Volunteers at Crossing Community Church in Newtown, provided demonstrations of a 17th century colonial kitchen. Swan brandished a "ball and chain," which was used to wash dishes, and presented a $1,000 valued block of tea, which is the form of tea colonists threw into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party.
Denise and Rick Wolff have presented their printing press at this event for three years, and demonstrated the process of printing to a family. Their device is a half-scale reproduction of a common press in the 18th century which uses ink made from linseed oil, and prints through a technique called relief printing.
"This [technique] cuts away everything that you don't want ink on, and what's left sticks up, as opposed to the other technique, intaglio, which is an etching where you cut out copper, and the ink goes in the cracks," Rick Wolff said. "[The paper] would be about four pages long. All the newspapers rushed to print The Declaration of Independence as an issue of their paper."
Looking on, Michael, Vanessa, and Chris Mather, who have attended the event every year since their son, Chris, was born, watched as Wolff pressed the ink to the paper. Chris said he likes to learn how things work, and how to take things apart and put them back together.
Clad in red coats, Bob Cappella and Ryan Platt, part of First New Jersey Volunteers, portrayed New Jersey loyalists. During the war, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York had high concentrations of loyalists, and they formed regiments to assist the British Army. Cappella, playing the role of Captain O'Connell, said he has been reenacting since about 1995 and enjoys travelling to places he has never been before. This event was Platt's first time ever doing reenactment.
"I saw a poster board at a fair near me, and I decided to join," Platt said. "I think it's important to preserve history, and especially to learn both sides of history. Obviously, there's a right side, but it's also important to see why the other side did what they did, and to gain more knowledge about it."
Robert Herrmann, acting as the village blacksmith and who additionally volunteers at Pennsbury Manor in Morrisville, used an anvil and hammer to craft dry hooks, and coated them with beeswax.
Chris and Spencer Snyder, members of the Philadelphia Continental Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution who tabled at the event for three years, have fourteen family members who fought in the revolutionary war. One was a regimental soldier who in Moland House encampment, marched to Valley Forge, and served in General Peter Muhlenberg's Brigade.
"We want to keep people interested in history and tell them that this country is worth fighting for," Chris Snyder said. "[We should fight] for the people that came before us, like my ancestors that had fought and endured an awful lot in order to make this country easy for people so they can go to the grocery store and get whatever they want instead of having to farm it and make it themselves."
