As the oldest charcoal, cold-blast furnace in the US, this is well-worth the visit for engineering and history students, but the machinery's size and the process is fascinating for all ages, especially the kids. If you can get Karin Viozzi as your tour guide, you will be guaranteed to get a great tour, and everyone will enjoy it! She is great about giving just enough info to keep you interested, and she has a way with kids that keeps them entertained and doesn't talk down to them. The surrounding area is beautiful! Take a ride through Miner's Village when you're done (ask the guide if they don't tell you) and then head over to Mt Gretna for ice cream at the Jigger Shop!
This historical Iron Furnace is absolutely fascinating. There are 2 different parts to the tour including a short film on the history and how the furnace actually works as well as a small self guided museum tour and then a tour of the actual furnace. You can see the museum and film in an hour or so and then tour the furnace which can be extremely cold in the winter and early spring months. Take a drive around the area after the tour and you can see the lake and workers homes that were built in the town around the furnace to support it.
A revolutionary war foundry in a very large brick building. Outstanding example of industrial revolution in a young America. Huge for its day, it has intricate wooden superstructure and the largest waterwheel I've ever seen (inside the building). Leave your electronics at home and take the tour. Very enjoyable, very interesting, especially on a hot summer's day. Worth a day trip.
The tour was very informative, both about the iron making process and about the site. The buildings themselves are beautiful, not what we expected for a manufacturing site. Our 3 kids (ages 8-almost 16) really like it too.
I am originally from the Quentin area so I am very familiar with the Cornwall Furnace. It is very interesting
This is a fully in tact iron furnace from the mid 1800s! All the parts are still as they were over a hundred years ago, fully restored. Alison, our tour guide took us through each section of the furnace, from the top where the material is loaded in, down through the mechanism of the blowers for the air blast, to the steam engine that runs the blowers and all the way to the bottom where the iron and slag come out and the iron is shaped into various parts on the sand floor. I don't believe any other iron furnace is nearly as complete as this one. Very impressive indeed. Alison did an excellent job presenting a wealth of information in a very enjoyable tour. If you're within 50 or 100 miles of this, you won't regret making this part of your itinerary. You'll be glad you did.
If you are at all interested in the history of manufacturing in America go on this tour. It was a very informative in depth tour about the production of iron during the Revolutionary war through the early Eighteen hundreds. But it has a lot of step so this may be a problem for some people.
If you love history- if you love machinery- if you love to be in awe of scale- this is as good as it gets. We actually found this by accident. It is a "to well kept secret". The tour will teach and entertain you more in 45 minutes than you could possibly expect. Whatever I thought an Iron Furnace would be was very small by the size of the actual. How in the world did anyone ever figure this out? Just amazing. You will learn why they call pig iron- pig iron. You will find out things like they cast cannons for George Washington in the revolutionary war. And this is just the beginning. Warning on a hot humid afternoon this will be a very hot tour. I suggest as early in the morning as possible in the summer. Do drive around the town of Cornwall it is a wow.
This is a remarkable place. It is fascinating to see the process that was used to make iron so many years ago. That it is preserved in such excellent condition and still operates made this all come to life. The tour guide was excellent and fun. The tour took about forty- five minutes. There is an interesting display area in the visitors center and a good gift shop. Don't miss it if you are in the area.
My wife and I have been meaning to visit over the last year; we finally made the visit to Cornwall on our way home to NJ this past Sunday. This was a first class review of the iron furnace process. The furnace is "The only Surviving Intact Charcoal Cold Blast Furnace in the Western Hemisphere." The exhibits were wonderful and professionally displayed, the movie was first class, and the tour was very informative as to the entire process and history. Our tour guide Ryan gave us individual attention and answered all our questions. This place is a hidden gem. Thanks to a grant, a major restoration process is underway to preserve the past.