Park 52: Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

8/4/14. What a gem of a park we found today! Catherine is in town visiting and we had a free day so we tried to find a park site that we could do in a day. We headed off for Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in eastern Pennsylvania.

View of the "Big House" from top of hill

We arrived in the park and drove through a beautiful section of woods with delicate light green leaves - like a cathedral of trees. Then we arrived at the visitor's center and watched the film and looked at the exhibits to get a feel for the site. According to the NPS website, " Hopewell Furnace showcases an early American industrial landscape. Operating from 1171-1883, Hopewell and other "iron plantations" laid the foundation for the transformation of the United States into an industrial giant." At this site, there was a furnace that created cast iron using the iron ore in the area as well as the trees for charcoal to heat the furnace.



The site is well-restored so that you can get a good feel of what the process was like and on certain days they actually use the facilities to demonstrate casting iron. Hopewell provided armaments like cannons to the revolutionary war, but they later became famous for the high-quality Hopewell Cast Iron Stoves.

Company store

The owners mansion

Front of the furnace where the iron exits when hot enough

Ladles used to fill the molds with melted iron

Water wheel that powered the bellows to increase the furnace heat

Tables where the molds were filled with sand to make the casts

The Charcoal Pit where the wood was slowly burned to make charcoal. They were making charcoal while we were there.

Interior of the mansion of the owner who in the beginning was Mark Bird

Today, there was a self-guiding tour with audio guides. The site is just big enough to be interesting, but small enough to visit in a couple of hours and feel satisfied. Catherine and I learned a great deal of information that we may never use again, but it was really interesting and enjoyable. The farmland was beautiful and lush and we ate a picnic lunch on the porch of the "Big House". We highly recommend this park for a nice half-day outing!

Park 51: The First State National Historic Park

8/3/14. We were looking for something fun to do this weekend so John, Catherine, Jason and I took a day trip to Delaware to visit The First State National Historic Park. We started out at the Newcastle Court House Museum. "Built in 1732, this building served as Delaware's first court and state capitol. Here in 1776, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex counties declared their independence from Pennsylvania and England creating the Delaware State." We enjoyed a tour of this courthouse, learning about the many important cases hear here, and examining the old paintings, building techniques, and other historical artifacts.

We spent some time walking around this area of Newcastle, enjoying the colonial buildings and architecture. It was especially pretty and interesting down by the waterfront. There was enough of interest in the town to keep up busy most of the day. There are various other sites throughout Delaware in this national historic park that we hope to all visit some day soon!