Rediscovering Early American Architecture: a Visit to Hopewell Furnace

At Hopewell Furnace, a look beyond the stables to the building housing the 22'-diameter oak and chestnut water wheel

Nestled in the Schuylkill River Valley watershed of Chester and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site preserves and interprets one of America's finest examples of an early ironworks plantation. Operating from 1771-1883, Hopewell Furnace played an important role during America's fight for independence from Great Britain by helping establish self-reliance on iron and the smelting process for the production of goods and ammunition. 

​In its time, Hopewell Furnace was a bustling community that consisted of furnace workers (both men and women), tradespeople and their families, and - as was unfortunately so often the case - many enslaved people. In 1780, builder of the furnace, Mark Bird, was recorded as having "owned" 10 men, 4 women, 3 boys, and one girl, making him the largest owner of enslaved people in Berks County at the time. 

​The visit to this site was inspiring in many ways.  There is an incredible tactile sense to the experience. One can wander into the bowels of what remains of the original smelting furnace, touching the stones, and finding bits of slag just about everywhere in the surrounding woods. 

Seeing so much traditional joinery of the many wooden outbuildings gave me an immense appreciation for the craftspeople that made them. There is a simplicity, yet intense focus on efficiency and purpose, qualities worth emulating in my own work.

Beautiful quartersawn oak handrail overlooking the water wheel

Inside the main blast furnace, what we assume is a ventilation chamber.

​Openly walking through the outbuildings of the industrial complex, though quiet and peaceful today, there is still a hint of the hub of activity and community that must have once breathed together here as a functioning machine. ​​

But don't take my word for it. Go see for yourself! The National Parks Service who now operates the site does a great job of educating the visiting public, and there are many beautiful walking trails in the surrounding woods and in French Creek State Park. 

Coal shed

Water wheel bridge

Stables

Former home of Mark Bird

One of the friendly fowl of Hopewell Furnace