Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Built in 1771 and operated until 1883, Hopewell Furnace is a charcoal-fueled, cold-blast iron smelting works in Berks County, Pennsylvania, surrounded by a community of workers' houses, a clerk's office and store, a blacksmith shop, and the Ironmaster's House. Its original owner, Mark Bird, supplied cannon, shot and shell to the Continental forces during the Revolution, and he also served in the Berks County Militia and shipped 1,000 bushels of flour to Valley Forge in 1778. The property is regarded as representative of the many charcoal ironworks that once operated in the eastern United States. Under the Buckley and Brooke families from 1800, the furnace was most profitable, producing the Hopewell stove. Its decline came with anthracite competition, and an 1853 anthracite furnace failed. The federal government bought the site in 1935, and restoration followed, with the Furnace and other structures rebuilt to show the 1820-1840 period.