Cornwall Iron Furnace is a very historic place to visit in Cornwall Pennsylvania. This old iron furnace was in operation from 1742 to 1883 and produced iron. Back then iron was used to make skillets, horse shoes, items for the railroad, cannons, cannon balls, cooking vessels and all sorts of other things. This old iron furnace was one of the largest ones ever built east of the Mississippi River.
What is really cool about this place is back in the good old days it was a self-sufficient community. The company provided housing for all of it’s employees, their own church, medical doctor, grocery store, horse stables, etc. The entire business and community was housed on about 10,000 acres.
During it’s hay-day the plant employed roughly 75 different people, with most of them being skilled tradesman who worked to run the iron furnace. A few of the men’s wives worked out in the fields doing other chores for the community, but as far as they know, none of those women worked in the furnace itself.
Once the place closed down the property sat vacant and unused until it was finally donated to the state of Pennsylvania who had it restored and turned into a museum and historical site. I love it when groups, organizations or even state’s take the time and money to preserve historical sites like this one. We can all learn a LOT by visiting them.
My husband and I had the pleasure of taking a tour of this place a few months ago and I wrote extensively about our tour over on my Pennsylvania and Beyond Travel Blog, so you can visit that blog post if you would like to learn more about it and it’s history. It’s really a fascinating story and one of our favorite tours from last Fall.
Today I’m sharing just a few pictures with all of you from our tour and I’m inviting you to visit my other blog post to see a lot more of the great photographs that I took that day.
Cornwall Iron Furnace is located in Cornwall Pennsylvania. It’s a little bit off the beaten path, but it’s well-worth the visit if you’re in the area or passing through. It’s a museum that is open year-round, but are only open a handful of days every week. The admission price is very reasonable and you’ll want to allow at least 1 1/2 hours if you plan to visit.
* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site. Thank you!
I love when a piece of our history is restored and preserved for future generations. I would truly enjoy visiting the Cornwall Furnace.
I would love to visit the Cornwall Iron Furnace .. It looks so interesting and as I have gotten older I love to learn as much as possible about History. I will look on your other Blog to learn more about it and see more pictures of it. Thank You for sharing this piece of History with us!!
This is so nice there ar places preserved like this. I love history, and this is something I would enjoy seeing. It is amazing to me how well things were made back then and all the labor involved.