The Cornwall Iron Furnace! It is difficult to imagine that this quiet cluster of beautiful buildings nestled in the rolling hills of Lebanon County was once the home of a fire-breathing blast furnace with an insatiable appetite for rocks and wood!  Each picturesque structure at the Cornwall Iron Furnace site played its part in the noisy infancy of the metals industry in America.

The charcoal, cold blast iron furnace at Cornwall operated continuously from 1742 to 1883 under the ownership of the Peter Grubb family and later Robert Coleman and his descendants, and was typical of the furnaces in those days. But Cornwall Iron Furnace is also quite unique in that it is the only known surviving furnace of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.  The five-acre site includes remnants of the original eighteenth century industry incorporated into the nineteenth century Furnace Building, Wagon Master and Blacksmith Shop buildings, Abattoir, and Charcoal Barn now refitted as a Visitor Center.  In close proximity but not part of the site are the Ironmaster’s Mansion, several workers villages, and the Cornwall Iron Ore Mine that today is filled with water.  The site is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and is a National Historic Landmark as well as a Landmark of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 

Cornwall Iron Furnace is located on Rexmont Road at Boyd Street in Cornwall.  Hours of operation are 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, closed Monday.   Admission for the furnace tour is $4.00/adult, $3.50/seniors and $2.00 for youth between the age of 6 and 17.  Call for more information, 717-272-9711.