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Hopewell Furnace

Few people know that without the iron furnaces and forges of the Pennsylvania area, the tools to win our freedom would have been elusive and neer impossible for us to obtain. Iron furnaces provided the iron necessary to forge cannon balls, cannons, shot, and the other implements necessary to make war as-well-as making iron stoves and wrought iron products. This iron furnace was built in Hopewell, Pennsylvania by Mark Bird because it was surrounded by dense woods which are required to make the charcoal necessary to run the furnace. Mark was already an important figure in the iron ore industry and understood the importance this new furnace would have in building up the American Colonies' economy.

Crown officials had wanted to limit the colonies to producing iron pigs, used to make iron products, but their efforts were ignored by colonists. As the war broke out, the furnace supplied cannon balls and iron pigs, among other things, to the colonies. In fact, one of the reasons General George Washington moved his troops to Valley Forge was to protect the iron supply line coming down the Schuylkill river.

The property was sold to the Federal Government in 1935 and was set aside as a National Historic Site on August 3, 1938. This is a must-see site for anyone wanting to gain a greater understanding of the reasons our founding fathers felt that they had to fight for our independence.

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