HOPEWELL FURNACE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE a Resource Assessment
october 2004 october HOPEWELL FURNACE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE A Resource Assessment ® NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION THE HOPEWELL FURNACE ASSESSMENT 1 ational Historic Site ational Historic nace N ell Fur Hopew NATIONAL PARK SERVICE The iron-making fur- n the woods of southeastern grates, and cannon shot and shells for nace resides in the Pennsylvania, a community of men, patriot forces during the Revolutionary War. cast house, the cen- ter of the Hopewell Iwomen, and childre n worke d to supply As technology progressed, the furnace community. This is iron for the growing nation. They created eventually became outdated. In 1883, it where stoves, ket- a village called Hopewell that was built closed, and the furnace workers and their tles, machinery, and other iron products around an iron-making furnace. From 1771 families left to make their livings elsewhere. were fashioned. to 1883, Hopewell Furnace manufactured They left behind their homes, work build- iron goods to fill the demands of growing ings, tools, and other evidence of the iron- eastern cities like Philadelphia, New York, making community that once thrived. and Baltimore. While the most profitable Today the remains of Hopewell Furnace items were stoves, the furnace cast many represent an important time in America's other objects such as kettles, machinery, maturation as a nation. The production of iron in hundreds of small furnaces like archival items relate d to the site's history. Hopewell provided the key ingredient in What today's visitors will not find are America's industrial revolution, enabling the the noise, heat, and pollution that were United States to become an economic and ever-present in the community during the technological leader worldwide.
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