Volunteer interpreter Art Sattolo stands inside Gen. George Washington's staff office — the Pentagon of its day — at Washington's headquarters in the Valley Forge, Pa., National Historical Park. An ambitious $6 million improvement project under way by the park is designed to put the story of Gen. Washington back into the home that was the tactical center for his army from December 1777 to June 1778, along with all the bustle of governing out of such a small space.

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — George Washington's headquarters may be the most important interpretive site at Valley Forge National Historical Park, but for now an uninspiring setting hides its dramatic origin.

Visitors were finding it difficult to make out the significance of the tiny house that served as ground zero for planning and coordinating for the Continental Army during its winter encampment at Valley Forge. So plans are under way to bring out the pivotal role the house — and the general who lived in it — played in keeping the troops going during the six grueling months they stayed on the grounds.

The $6 million project is designed to put the story of Gen. Washington back into the home that was the tactical center for his army from December 1777 to June 1778, along with all the bustle of governing out of such a small space.

"Now visitors arrive in a parking lot that's out of context and looks like it belongs in front of a Wal-Mart," said Deidre Gibson, chief of planning and resource management for the park. "Then they have to figure out where to go. It's a confusing experience and one that they often find underwhelming."

The improvements, representing the largest single federal investment in the park since it became part of the National Park Service on July 4, 1976, start with a new entryway. Visitors will arrive via a rustic road along the Schuylkill River and walk down to the site. The large parking lot that first greets them now will be removed.

The goal is for the train station overlooking the site, built in 1911 by Reading Railroad, to reopen in 2008 as an orientation center for the headquarters.

The station will house a multimedia presentation to introduce guests not only to Washington and his headquarters, but to the village of Valley Forge, carefully picked as an encampment site because it was a day's walk from the British troops in Philadelphia and guarded agriculture to the west.

"The village of Valley Forge is almost a lost story," said park superintendent Mike Caldwell. "It was a thriving industrial village and, in essence, a lot of its remains have disappeared from the landscape."

The iron forge that gave the village its name, along with most of the industrial buildings that comprised it, were torn down when a private group bought the headquarters to preserve it as a historical site in the late 19th century.

"A common notion at the time was the best way to commemorate a site was to beautify the landscape," Gibson said. "But they took it back to something it never was — a few revolutionary buildings in an open landscape. So now when we try to tell visitors about the village, they think, 'What cotton mill?"'

Details are still being worked out, but Gibson foresees features like cell phone call-in sites and podcasts around the grounds to educate visitors about the village and headquarters.

"I honestly never knew Valley Forge was a village," said Bruce Furne, 29, of Radnor, as he prepared for a run in the park. "If there's going to be more to show me how life was there, I'll stop by to check it out."

The main focus, of course, will be the headquarters itself.

The two-story stone building with four rooms, plus a kitchen, was "the Department of Defense of its time," Gibson said.

Washington rented the house from a private citizen, avoiding commandeering property to keep the good will of the citizenry on his side, and lived there with 28 of his senior aides, corresponding frequently with Congress by means of couriers on horseback.

"People are stunned at how small and crowded it was," Gibson said. "It would have been extremely busy."

Part of the project's aim is to break the Valley Forge story down into small chunks, too, so visitors have a variety of traditional and multimedia options for learning history at their own pace.

Especially in the orientation, Gibson said much of the focus will be on Washington himself.

"Washington's leadership is really the story of Valley Forge," she said. "It's about the way he kept the Army together even when everybody thought it was over."

Some improvements planned as part of a $6 million project to bring historical context back to Gen. George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge National Historical Park:• Elimination of a 20th-century road that divided the village space• Removal of bicentennial parking lot• Addition of new slate roof, rehabilitation of train station• Removal of excess train station paving• Addition of multimedia exhibits to explain Washington's leadership• Return of large statue of Washington.

George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, Pa., is the focus of an ambitious $6 million improvement project.