Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Early on a Sunday morning (just after 05:00) we left Richmond to drive north.  Ultimately we were heading to Boston, but we had a few stops along the way.  We knew that we didn't want to drive anywhere near Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City on a weekday, hence traveling on a Sunday.  However we also had a number of states that we wanted to visit so we planned our route with care.  We started out driving north through Virginia and then drove through Washington DC so we could cross off the district on our list of locations visited.  As we left the city we drove along the George Washington Memorial Parkway.  It was a beautiful tree-lined highway that made for a wonderful start to the day.  Several hours later our first stop of the day was at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site.  Thanks to our early start we made it there by mid morning.

When we arrived we were just behind some bicyclists.  Apparently there was a race going on in the area that morning and part of the route went right by the park entrance.

Your visit begins with the visitor center directly next to the parking lot.

Inside are a number of exhibits about the history of the area and the site.

Hopewell Furnace, in operation by 1772, was one of America's early ironworks.  For more than 100 years, Hopewell's furnace stood at the focal point of a vibrant industrial community providing iron for a growing nation.  From three raw materials found in the countryside--iron ore, limestone, and timber--Hopewell's ironmasters made stoveplates, cookware, pig iron, and a variety of other cast iron products.
--from exhibit signage

This was the cooling shed where mounds of fresh hot charcoal were stored until the material had cooled down sufficiently to be safely stored elsewhere.

In 1853, the Hopewell partners built a hot-blast anthracite furnace here.  This new furnace did not bur charcoal but used anthracite coal to smelt iron--an attempt to reduce fuel costs and increase iron production.  Hopewell's anthracite furnace operated for less than four years.  By 1857, furnace machinery had been removed and was installed on a new furnace on the Schuylkill Canal.  This suggests the cost of hauling coal made the furnace operation uneconomical.
--from exhibit signage

These foundations are all that remain of the charcoal kilns once used to produce charcoal in the large quantities needed for operations of the furnace.

This is the remnants of a charcoal pit showing how people used to stack wood and then would burn it under controlled conditions to transform it into charcoal.

While working these charcoal burners would live in a hut like this one.

After investigating the charcoal producing area of the premises we headed to the upper level of the furnace.

It was quite dark under the overhang.

If you looked out the side you could see some of the machinery.

Furnace workers would roll carts up to this point and dump raw materials into the furnace.

The older kids thought it was fascinating to stare down at the waterwheel.

Everything was so lush and green.  The contrast between the white walls, green grass, and red-orange roof was spectacular.

This small building contained a small store and served as a second place (beyond the visitor center) for staff to interact with guests.

While the lower level of the barn sheltered animals the upper level was used to store the food and bedding for the animals.  Today it serves as a display area for various historic vehicles and implements.

one of the haymows was actually full, showing what the barn might have looked like when actually in use to house work animals.

The view of the pasture was great from the upper level.

The moldboard plow was very useful in breaking up thick soils.  The metal blades were some of the implements that Hopewell would have produced.

We got to see plenty of sheep in the pasture.  At one point a couple of them escaped through the fence, but then they found a place to squeeze back through into the pasture.

I believe this was a blacksmith shop.

 Interior of the the above structure.

 The path continued further along, but we had to head back as we still had plenty of driving left to do during the day and couldn't stay as long as we might have liked.

 There was plenty of pasture land for other animals, but sadly unlike the sheep they never came very close to us.

I took this 360° view before we headed into the lower level of the main building.

According to the signage this was the area where the molten iron flowed out of the furnace into channels made in the sand floor.  "The cast iron forms became known as 'pigs,' since their outline resembled a sow nursing a litter of piglets."

The water wheel powered the blast machinery that pumped the air to keep the furnace running hot enough to melt the iron ore.

As there were no staff members around the signs were very useful in deciphering the various pieces of equipment in the building.

Elsewhere I saw that apparently classes are taught to teach students how the metalworking process works.  It sounds like it would be a fascinating program to attend.

We also toured the house on property.

The rooms had plenty of furnishings.

 The kids enjoyed seeing the fake food on the table.

 The upstairs area is not accessible to the public.

 After exiting the house we stopped by the garden on our way back to the visitor center.

All of the pictures above and a few more can be found in this album.

~Matt

Gettysburg National Military Park - Part II

I feel like you could easily spend multiple days touring Gettysburg.  Unfortunately we only had one day available, though we did make sure we had the entire day available to tour the battlefield.  We didn't try to cram in another stop on that day.

Last time we left off on our trip around the battlefield on the top of Little Round Top where the Union defense held its ground against multiple Confederate attacks.  The areas at the base of the hill later became famous and were also the scenes for many photographs after the battle.  I found a fascinating section of the Gettysburg NMP website that offers several comparisons of modern and historical photographs.

We parked near the Devils Den and got out of the car to go walk amidst the huge rocks.  Once you climb behind the massive rock in this photo you can see a path, the next section of the road,and more as seen in this 360º photo.

I found the story behind the 1st Minnesota memorial interesting.  "Late on the afternoon of July 2, after the collapse of the Union line at the Peach Orchard, Confederate infantry...threatened to pour through a gap in the Union line...only one regiment was at hand to stop the Confederate tide--the 1st Minnesota....  With levelled bayonets, the Minnesotans crashed into Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's Alabamians who outnumbered them 4-to-1.  The charge broke the Confederate ranks and stalled the Southerners long enough for Union reinforcements to arrive.  The Union line was saved, but at a terrific cost.  According to a regimental officer, of the 262 Minnesotans in the charge, only 47 escaped death or injury."

The Pennsylvania Memorial was huge and it had stairs that allowed for access to the area directly beneath the dome.

The view of the ceiling from the inside of the memorial.

The view from on top was fantastic as you can see below and in this 360º view.

On top of Culp's Hill I climbed another observation tower.  The view from the top is somewhat spoiled by the roof supports, but this 360º view still gives you a sense of it.

Look, another cannon and equestrian statue!

This memorial marks the high-water spot where the Confederate assault advanced the furthest as part of the infamous Pickett's Charge.  Check out this 360º view for the whole context.
Years after the battle, Pickett's Charge and its failure came to be known as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy."
--from exhibit signage

I found the Tammany Regiment memorial interesting knowing the influence that organization had upon politics in New York City.

At the end of the day we drove back by the visitor center and I noticed this sign.  It must be terrible if you accidentally left a vehicle in the parking lot in the evening.

You will find many, many more pictures from our drive around the battlefield in my Gettysburg album.  I definitely plan for us to go back to the battlefield at some point, and I'm looking forward to going through the tour with kids who understand a bit more about the battle and the importance of what happened there.

~Matt

Gettysburg National Military Park - Part I

After driving through Ohio and Pennsylvania we ended up camping in Maryland for several days so that we could visit several historic sites.  One of the places that I hadn't been to in years was Gettysburg.  We woke up early one morning and headed to the park.  We ended up getting a tour so that we would hear more about the battle as we drove.  The Gettysburg Story is the tour that we purchased, however we opted not to listen to the CD.  At the time the tour was also available through the Detour app which delivered an amazing experience.  Sadly the tour is no longer available, but the experience made me eager to try other offerings in the app.  It was a great experience to listen to the audio stops and have the app pause and wait to play the next segment until you'd arrived at the right location.

The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory that ended General Robert E. Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion", Gettysburg was the Civil War's bloodiest battle and was also the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln's immortal "Gettysburg Address".
--from Gettysburg NMP website

It had rained the night before so everything was wet when we arrived at the visitor center, but that also meant that vegetation was lush and green.

It had been so long since my last visit that I didn't really remember anything about the park.  But looking up the history I did find out that the current visitor had been built since I'd last visited in the 90s.

The girls liked seeing the stature of Abraham Lincoln.

Inside we found quite a bit of information.  We decided not to buy tickets for anything had a cost such as the museum, film, live tours, presentations, or a trip to Eisenhower National Historic Site.

We did wander through the gift shop for a while and as I mentioned above we ended picking up a tour of the park.  I enjoy touring large parks with a tour, and I figure if we buy them once we'll be able to reuse them on any future visits to the park.

There were a wide range of products, including many interesting ones to be found.

Once we started driving it wasn't long before we saw our first of many, many, many, many cannons.  Additionally according to the signs that we saw at our first stop the battlefield is sprinkled, no I think covered is a better word, with over "1,300 monuments, memorials, and markers..."

The McPherson Barn was in the middle of the opening phase of the battle.

Before too long we came to the first observation tower.  It was fun to climb up to the top to get a birds eye view of the battlefield.  I took a 360º photo from on top of the tower, click here to view it.  It isn't perfect, but it is a fun way to show what we saw.

This monument was dedicated to the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry and has the statue of a dog at the base on the other side.

The North Carolina Memorial was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum (who is best known for his work on Mount Rushmore).

The Virginia Memorial features Robert E. Lee mounted on Traveller on the very top.

The Longstreet Tower offered a view of President Eisenhower's Gettysburg farm.

The next time we come back to the area I definitely want to take the bus drive over to Eisenhower's farm.  But this time I had to be content with the birds eye view.

After a while the tour road headed into the woods and towards Little Round Top.  We ended up spotting a memorial related to the Twentieth Maine (its commander Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a prominent figure in the movie Gettysburg).

A tower that doubles as a memorial to the 44th New York Infantry makes for a great observation post.

 When you enter you'll find a steep set of stairs off the central area.

Once at the top you have a commanding view of the area from atop Little Round Top.  From here you can see to the Devil's Den and the Peach Orchard.  I also took another 360º photo from atop this tower.

A bit further along the ridge I took another 360º photo and I think think with that I'll end this post and pick up the journey next time.

~Matt