Hopewell Furnace and Daniel Boone

It is still a beautiful fall here!

Today we learned about the beginnings of industrialization at Hopewell Furnace.

In the cast house above, the waterwheel below turned moving Pistons which blow air into the furnace and kept it above 2800°!

Here at the bottom of the furnace, the first product of each batch would be white iron, lower quality finish but still very useful. (It was very useful during the American Revolution and on into the mid 1800s.) Next the gray iron came and that was used to cast nicer products. For example, Hopewell was famous for their furnaces.

All the people working the furnace would live here in a little village basically. And in the big house was the owner/manager.

The small national Park was very well laid out and had great explanations that introduced our family to a completely new subject, iron making. Each job, including the materials used and the part it played in the overall process, was represented in the re-created village.

Onward...

This river is pronounced "skoogle". (Learning Pennsylvania-speak)

At the Daniel Boone Homestead, we enjoyed the little visitor center.

A video gave us an overview of Daniel Boone's life.

Outside there is a stone house that was built around the log cabin Daniel Boone grew up in. Actually the logs were also replaced with stone. So there is one made of stone that was the fireplace and Daniel Boone's log cabin that is still there in the basement of the newly built house. But this is the property where he was born and lived the first 15 years of his life.

Nevertheless, it was fun to find the birthplace dedicated to Daniel Boone and sharing his story.