hopewell furnace national historic site

Great place to visit. Lots of history here. Re inactment in the summer time. Also farm animalsGood place to hike

We stopped here on our way home to Baltimore from Reading. We are park entusiasts and will stop anytime we are even somewhat near a NPS unit. We really didn't have any expectations when coming here, we just knew that it was an old iron plantation. The video in the visitor's center is a great place to start. It gives a good orientation as to the history of the Hopewell Furnace. The staff and rangers are great and helpful in answering any and all questions. It was a warm February day so we walked the grounds and visited most of the buildings on the property. There is a cute cat that may escort you around the property. There are audio recordings in many of the buildings that tell a little history of what went on in each building. Well worth the trip.

Another fun and educational national park! It's not far outside of Philly, but it feels farther because of how winding and small the roads are to get to it. But it's worth it if you enjoy learning about the history and culture of the area!It's one of the iron foundries that helped during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and it's cool if you've been to the Saugus Iron Works up in Massachusetts to see how things changed in the intervening 200 years between the two sites.The facilities are well-maintained and very informative, and apparently during the summer, they actually start up the foundry and show how the whole system used to work.

These days, it's hard to get kids to unplug and enjoy the outdoors. Tell them that they might" have" to learn something in the process could bring contemptuous sighs. This should be no problem at Hopewell Furnace. The visitors center is well laid out and has plenty of interesting historic pieces to not just view, but some to hold and touch. The rangers are family friendly and will encourage your "junior rangers" to use their imagination and explore how life was different in the 1700 & 1800s. On weekends when they are doing re-enacting, see sheep sheared, charcoal made, or iron smelted. Learn how the waterwheel (still in operation) helped the iron forge. If history is just not your kids bag, there are plenty of trails and wildlife to take in, or the farm animals of the village. Take a hike to Hopewell Lake located at the neighboring state park and take in a swim at the pool, or some fishing. In the fall, visit Hopewell Village and try your hand picking heritage apples from the orchard. This Historic site is great for a day trip and is only an hour from Philadelphia. Make it a weekend and camp out at French Creek State Park.

When we arrived it was 10 minutes before closing time but the man told us we could still go out. In ten minutes he would start closing up the buildings). He told us after he finished his rounds he would unlock the gate for us. This iron plantation operated from 1771 - 1883. Many of the buildings are open for you to go through. After we were through and waiting for the gates to be unlocked we were lucky enough to be able to watch the horses and sheep coming down the trail to the barn for the night.

I visited Hopewell Furnace with my parents and my two children (5 and 6 years old). We all really enjoyed our visit. Watch the video. I learned much that I didn't know about iron making and its influence on American history. We not only learned about the iron making process, but also about the lives of the people involved. The rangers were friendly and helpful. My kids loved earning their Junior Ranger badges. I honestly wasn't sure to expect from this site from the NPS web page, but it impressed us all.

We spent 90 minutes on self-guided tour and that was in drizzle so you could allow 2 hours to visit. Be sure and take the 15 minute video before you tour the grounds. Several buildings to go thru on your own. I would think during the summer they would have guided tours. A small interesting museum in visitors center along with a couple of short video's to watch. Interesting and informative on process of the furnaces.

The park is about 20 miles west of Limerick, PA and a beautiful countryside drive out there. We visited on a Thursday morning and it was pretty quite people-wise. The park itself is very serene and the staff were very personable. Great piece of history on the forging process and really amazing what they did there. There is a small visitor center with gift shop and short movies on the different stages of creating an iron plate and a main movie about 15 minutes long. Great place to walk and go into the buildings; we spent about 2 hours there going into most of the buildings and unfortunately, they did not have any demonstrations that day or we would have been there longer. A wonderful addition to our history stops tour of Philly area!

If you are a history buff, then Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is a must. The site is nestled in the French Creek Park area and captures a part of our history. Run by the friendly folks of the National Parks Service (your tax dollars at work), the site is all about the early days of the industrial revolution. The Furnace, operating from 1771-1883, is an 848 acre iron plantation site that includes demonstration areas maned by a cadre of wonderful volunteers. On a recent trip we witnessed volunteers creating charcoal and others making molds and then casting them in iron. This kind of stuff is great for kids of all ages. Expect to spend at least two hours onsite and make sure you are wearing comfortable shoes. Don't forget to stop by the interesting General Store (Wed. - Sun.) and the farm area with horses, sheep and a couple of very lazy steers. Don't miss Hopewell Furnace, a great experience and it is free.

This place is out of the way when visiting Pennsylvania but well worth the visit. It demonstrates a vital part of our history.

Who knew!? I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and sometimes I am just floored at the amazing places I never knew existed. I love that! So Hopewell was great. The cub scouts camped at out French Creek and hiked over. You must go to the welcome center first - the woman who works there is so friendly and helpful. She set up all our boys with their junior ranger sheets and pencils. We watched the 10 minute movie - which is on demand - so you should be able to request it at any time. The visitor center also has a small museum of sorts - as well as things the kids can touch and work with.We visited the Cast House first to watch a demo of casting and molding. Do NOT miss this. Great show - we actually watched it twice since we missed the first 10 minutes of the first one. The building is amazing with a huge water wheel with bellows........just super cool. My engineer hubby was in heaven. The 'village' includes the cast house, the mansion, the tenant houses, a village store, the barn, and some other buildings. There are buttons that you can push in some places to hear a commentary on them. This is free - and beautiful and what a learning experience. **Note - on the drive up to French Creek I did not follow directions and instead went though a tiny village called St. Peters....check it out. Very quaint. I did not stop.

A great place to learn about life as it was in the 18th century amongst the farms and forests of southeast Pennsylvania. So good that historic sites such as these have been preserved.

Took a local road trip and came across this place and was amazed at what we found. Beautiful setting and what a source of American history. The visitor center was very nice and the staff was super! They gave us lots of information about the site and the history behind it. The 15 minute video is a must see as it explains a lot in a very short period of time. The history of this place is incredible and I never knew how big of a role it played in shaping our country. Even if you aren't a big history buff, it's still a neat place to visit and see first hand what life was like in the late 1700's.I will be checking the upcoming events for another visit and plan on supporting the park so that others can continue to enjoy what it has to offer.The working water wheel is a Must See! The whole area around the park is nice and a great place to plan a relaxing picnic.

Hopewell provides a good perspective on life in the 19th century. Our favorite times to visit are during demonstrations of the iron working and on sheep shearing day in May. We also enjoy apple picking in the fall. The park relies on volunteers to help since funding is less these days, so do not expect everything to be perfect or available at any time. Ranger Christine makes each visit memorable with her enthusiasm.

I have heard of the furnace sites, but have never visited one. This was a great place to learn about how people lived in the area a couple hundred years ago. There is a 15 minute introductory film in the visitor center. It isn't long, and it really gives a good background to start from before exploring the buildings. Also it will explain some of the things you see as you walk around the grounds. There is also an area in the back of the visitor center where they have a television with more video to watch. You select which video you would like to view, and they are several minutes long with more detailed information on different aspects of the furnace. We watched a video about how they pour the molds for the iron they made at the site. It was much easier to understand the process when you actually see people doing it. There are also some simple displays in that area of the visitor center.The buildings are set up similar to how they would've been at the time. Many have audio inside. You press a button and it will give information about that building from the point of view of those that lived and worked there. There are a number of buildings to visit including the office, the barn, the springhouse, the blacksmith's shop, several tenant houses, and the mansion. You can only see about 3 rooms in the mansion, but they are furnished, and again have the audio explanation. There are a few animals around, a couple horses, some chickens, and some sheep. We really enjoyed our visit here. There was a lot more to explore than we were expecting.They have special events on certain days of the year where they have people in costume and demonstrations. I think that would be a great time to visit, but it was also interesting just on its own. And it's free, so you can't beat that.