The National Park Service (NPS) invites the public to “Harvest Time,” a historic crafts day at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (NHS) on Saturday, Sept. 26. The day-long, free event will feature the apples available for picking and autumn harvest activities of a 19th century “iron plantation.”
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., costumed volunteers and NPS rangers will demonstrate historic domestic skills such as cooking (featuring apple butter making), spinning and fiber arts, as well as the industrial skills of blacksmithing and sand flask mold making used for the production of iron products. All these activities were integral parts of the operations at Hopewell Furnace. Visitors will also have a chance to learn about early American autumn harvest activities and share a hand in performing them.
Visitors will also be able to pick the various varieties of apples from Hopewell’s orchard and for $1 per pound, take home their favorites. These include many historic, organically grown heirloom varieties not normally available at modern orchards. Apple picking equipment is provided free.
“Harvest time is a fabulous American experience,” said Site Manager Frances Delmar. “We’re celebrating a time when America began changing from a land of almost exclusively agriculture to a land of expanding business and industry. Farm and factory shared the workday at Hopewell, as did the men and women who lived here.”
Hopewell Furnace is the preeminant example of a 19th century iron-making community. Park visitors can walk its pathways of history, exploring structures such as the cast house, ironmaster’s mansion, blacksmith shop and barn. Livestock at the park’s farm include animals reminiscent of the types that were used to support the work force when the furnace was an active business and community.
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site preserves and interprets an early American industrial landscape from natural resource extraction to enlightened conversation. The site is surrounded by the 73,000-acre Hopewell Big Woods, the largest forest in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Showcasing an iron plantation and its surrounding village, all the park’s facilities are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. It is closed on other federal holidays. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the park’s visitor center and historic buildings are closed, but its grounds, trails and restrooms remain open.
Hopewell Furnace is located five miles south of Birdsboro, off Route 345. No entrance fee is charged.
For more information, stop by the park’s visitors center, call 610-582-8773, visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/hofu or contact us by email at hofu_superintendent@nps.gov. Visitors with specific needs may contact the park for assistance before their visit.
