Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
Map of the US state of Pennsylvania showing the location of French Creek State Park Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (the United States)
Location	Union Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Nearest city	Reading, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°11′55″N 75°46′32″W
Area	848 acres (343 ha)
Established	August 3, 1938
Visitors	49,980 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeastern Berks County, near Elverson, Pennsylvania, is an example of an American 19th century rural "iron plantation". The buildings include a blast furnace, the ironmaster's house and auxiliary structures including a blacksmith's shop, a company store and several worker's houses.

Hopewell Furnace was founded in 1771 by ironmaster Mark Bird, son of William Bird, who had been one of Pennsylvania's most prominent ironmasters. The site's most prosperous time was during the 1820-1840 period with a brief return to significant production during the American Civil War. In the mid 19th century changes in iron making, including a shift from charcoal-fueled furnaces to anthracite-fueled steel mills rendered smaller furnaces like Hopewell obsolete. The site discontinued operations in 1883.

In 1938 the property was designated Hopewell Village National Historic Site under the authority of the Historic Sites Act, thereby becoming one of the earliest cultural units of the National Park System.

Today, Hopewell Furnace consists of 14 restored structures, 52 features on the List of Classified Structures, and a total of 848 mostly wooded acres. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is located in the Hopewell Big Woods and bordered by French Creek State Park on three sides and State Game Lands 43 on the south side, which preserves the lands the furnace utilized for its natural resources.

Gallery

Village at Hopewell Furnace in 2008 Hopewell Furnace buildings and grounds Ironmaster's House, interior A wagon loaded with coal at Hopewell Furnace Sample works produced at Hopewell Furnace The Hopewell Furnace water wheel Mill sluice exterior Below the spillway

See also

• Cast iron
• Iron
• Ironworks
• Sand casting
• Birdsboro Steel Foundry and Machine Co
• Charcoal making
• Birdsboro, Pennsylvania

References

• National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, History Program, Northeast Region

External links

• Official website
• History of Hopewell Furnace
• African-Americans at Hopewell Furnace
• Hopewell Village National Historic Site
• Hopewell Furnace: A Pennsylvania Iron-making Plantation, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. PA-5157-A, "Hopewell Village, Furnace & Bridge House", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page

External links

• Sand Molding at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service (Youtube video)
• Iron Casing at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service (Youtube video)
• Charcoal Making at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service (Youtube video)
• [1] (PDF Document)