Hopewell Funrance National Historic Site

On Saturday, January 3, we went to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, about 45 minutes northwest of us.

The first thing we noticed was the weather. We weren't far from home but it was significantly colder, and there was still snow on the ground from some flurries we'd had a few days prior. Our corner of the state always seems to be significantly warmer than the rest. We're always right at or just south of the rain / snow line. I think it's because we're very low in elevation and closest to the Atlantic.

Anyway, we got there and it was a beautiful blue sky, apple trees, and farm fields. Neither of us really had any idea what this park was all about - it's not exactly one of the most well known. So, we went in to check out the building and find out. A very nice ranger there showed offered to show us a 10 minute video, which was very informative, and then we walked around the small museum. It is very small as far as ranger station museums go, but nice regardless.

We wrapped up Jackson in his clothes, thick coat, hat, gloves, and his stroller fleece sleeping bag to walk through the park. It was cold, but he was as snug as a bug and slept the entire time.

So here's the story. In 1771, a man named Mark Bird built an iron furnace here, which became extremely important in 1775 when the Revolutionary War broke out. The furnace started out mostly making casting stove plates, but when it became clear that war was inevitable, the furnace became a a major supplier of cannons. After the war, though, he had a hard time collecting debts from the new government and the recession didn't help. In 1788, he auctioned off Hopewell Plantation and fled to North Carolina.

After several more owners, it eventually ended up in the hands of Clement Brooke in 1816. He was owner and iron master and became very successful by focusing the operation on making stove plates and other iron products. Hopewell became in important supplier of these items to many of the major cities on the East Coast.

Hopewell continued operations until 1883, but really struggled throughout most of that time. Its most successful period was between 1816 and 1831.

Anyway, enough history. The park featured a lot of original and restored building, including the furnace and homes. Here's how it worked:

To melt iron, you have to have a lot of fuel, and for them, that was charcoal, but they had to make it. They had teams of men who did nothing but make charcoal, which was an incredibly labor and time-intensive process. I'm not going to go into all of the details, but essentially, they had to cut down several (~12) trees, split the wood into very specific sizes, stack it into a very specific shape following very specific steps, cover this huge pile with leaves and dirt, and then burn it very slowly over a period of 10 - 12 days. But, the wood has to burn very slowly and under controlled conditions, so 1 or 2 men had to spend every minute of those 10 days watching it. They build wood and dirt huts like these next to the burn pile so they could watch the burn.

Blast furnaces burn very hot, so the charcoal didn't last long. It is hard to imagine how much charcoal, and therefore forests, they must have gone through to operate for more than 100 years. This park still does charcoal making demonstrations and classes in the summer. Looks pretty cool.

Once the charcoal cools, they put it over in huge wagon with huge draft horses to a large building where it is stored until it is needed.

So, to make iron, they dump iron ore and limestone into the top of a furnace with charcoal at the bottom where it is burned. To get the charcoal hot enough, they had enormous bellows blowing hot air into the fire. The bellows were powered by a waterwheel.

It really amazed me that the process is nearly identical to the way pig iron and iron processing was done so much more recently in places like Sloss Furnace in Birmingham.

When this place was in operation, it was basically it's own little village. There was the iron masters house, which you can go in. It was very big and nice inside. There was also a general store, where you could get just about anything you wanted. You could go in that also, and it was pretty cool. On the grounds there was also a big field with sheep and a couple of ENORMOUS draft horses. They are used to getting fed by visitors, so one of the horses walked right up to us and Lincoln was so excited!

Around the field there were houses of the furnace workers, which again, you can go in. They're furnished as if they would have been in the 19th century. Pretty cool.

In all, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful park. There are lots of trails to walk and its a great place for dogs. We had a great time.

Along the road on the way out, there was this beautiful tree - perfect for family pictures.

After we left, we were driving slowly around the remainder of the park and pulled off the side of the road to look at the map when someone pulled up next to us, rolled down his window, and yelled War Eagle! Here we were in the middle of nowhere PA and we met an Auburn fan. He said he was from here, but lived for a time in Alabama, and being a Penn State fan (and rational person), he had to hate Alabama. Good for him. Join the club. f-bamma