Retreat at Valley Forge

FOURTH of July weekend is justly renowned for its celebrations of beaches, barbecues, baseball and, of course, fireworks. But if you're yearning for a slightly more soul-stirring way to celebrate our nation's independence, perhaps you should make a trip to the national Revolutionary War museum.

Unfortunately, you'll need patience. Though the idea was first proposed more than a century ago, a national Revolutionary War museum still does not exist. Thank the federal government for that.

For years, a nonprofit group has worked to create an American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, Pa., the place where, 18 months after independence was declared, Gen. George Washington transformed a collection of amateurs into a military corps capable of defeating the mighty British.

Valley Forge is surely the right location. The National Park Service already operates the Valley Forge National Historical Park, which includes hundreds of archaeological sites, extensive archives and even the stone building Washington used as headquarters during that fateful winter. But unlike nearby Gettysburg, Valley Forge is now more of a recreational park than hallowed ground. To remedy that, Congress in 1999 approved the creation of a public-private partnership between the Park Service and the American Revolution Center. The State of Pennsylvania put aside $20 million for the project, and the center's board, along with its chief executive, Thomas M. Daly, set out to raise $100 million or more. In addition, the center recruited an impressive advisory board , including historians David McCullough, Thomas Fleming and Richard R. Beeman. It commissioned the architect Robert A. M. Stern to design a 108,000-square-foot building that suits the landscape's contours while providing 30,000 square feet of galleries, as well as a theater, cafe and educational space.

The center planned to fill those galleries with a trove of items, including an enormous private collection consisting of letters from Valley Forge, a soldier's discharge signed by Washington, a gold-and-silver presentation sword that had belonged to Louis XVI, a large archaeological collection, muskets, uniforms, documents, historic art works and more. The Valley Forge Historical Society agreed to donate the tent used by Washington at Valley Forge. When combined with the Park Service's own collection, the center's assemblage of Revolutionary War items would almost certainly be the largest in the world.

Initially, everyone seemed pleased, with the center setting a target date to open in 2006. Then it all fell apart. While the reasons remain unclear, they smack of politics and turf battles.