Fort Washington was first known as Whitemarsh during the days of the Revolutionary War. It was the scene of the encampment of 12,000 soldiers of General Washington’s army from November 2 until December 11, 1777. Following the unsuccessful battle of Germantown, Washington chose the heights of the Whitemarsh Valley as an easily defendable position. From here he pondered the possibility of launching an attack against General Howe’s British army in Philadelphia.
Although Washington decided against an attack, the British marched out from Philadelphia on December 5 to try to engage the Americans in battle. Because of Washington's strong position, only local skirmishes took place. After much marching back and forth, Howe led his army back to Philadelphia on December 8.
Knowing his poorly clad men needed better quarters, and also to protect the iron forges and foundries in the Schuylkill Valley, Washington left Whitemarsh on December 11, 1777, and marched the Continental Army to Valley Forge. There the American spirit had its first rendezvous with destiny.
In 1891, a granite marker commemorating Fort Hill was placed along the Bethlehem Pike by the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. This stone is located on American Legion property north of the park office.
Although Fort Washington State Park is beyond the boundaries of Philadelphia, the city’s famous Fairmount Park Commission began acquiring land here in the early 1920s. The commission, with the assistance of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters, administered the park until 1953 when an Act by the State Legislature turned the park over to the former Department of Forests and Waters, now the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
