Mount Hope Estate (Boundary Increase)
Also known as: Mt. Hope Furnace Historic District
The pin is a point inside the NPS boundary polygon, not a surveyed location.
Why it's listed
Mount Hope is an iron plantation near the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lancaster County, built around a charcoal blast furnace begun in 1784 by Peter Grubb II. The furnace stack, 27 feet high, was later converted to hot blast and anthracite fuel in 1878, and the stack and part of its hot blast apparatus remain visible. The complex included workers' houses, a manager's house, a mill, a school, a church and an alcohol plant that distilled wood alcohol, all built to serve a self-contained ironmaking community. The Gothic Revival Mount Hope Episcopal Church, dated 1848, and the sandstone workers' houses are noted as architecturally important, and the site holds archaeological evidence of production and daily life. The furnace operated until 1885. The boundary increase was added because the ironworks and its residential elements are considered essential to understanding the plantation as a whole.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is one of the most intact iron plantations in Pennsylvania, with industrial, residential and social elements. It cites the 1784 furnace stack and its 1878 hot blast alterations as engineering features, the vernacular workers' houses and Gothic Revival church as architecture, and archaeological potential for understanding ironworkers' lives.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 91001146, listed September 6, 1991. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly, along Shearer's Cr. E of Mansion House Rd. and N of PA Tpk., Penn and Rapho Townships, Mount Hope |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | September 6, 1991 |
| Reference number | 91001146 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1784-1885 |
| Architectural style | no style; other: iron furnace |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Community Planning and Development, Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Engineering, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The furnace closed in 1885; the Grubb mansion is now the Mount Hope Estate and Winery and the plantation is divided by the turnpike, with no buildings destroyed. |
| Acreage | 88 |
| Coordinates | 40.22722, -76.42544 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 91001146.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.