I woke up much earlier than usual. I had the day off and was hoping to get some photos of the warm colors from the “Golden Hour”, the time right after the sun rises. I did see a little bit of reddish-orange near the eastern horizon but it quickly disappeared, turning into the grey that was in the sky for the rest of the day. I was on my way to the ghost town of West Winfield located in Winfield Township.
Located not far from Saxonburg and Cabot, at one time it was a booming town but now it is nothing more than a meeting of a couple roads. A limestone plant operates here but other than that, most all of the houses and buildings have been torn down. A few steps along the road remain and in the summertime, piles of bricks show where houses once stood. What was drawing me up here was to see the remains of the Winfield Furnace.
An aerial view of West Winfield in 1938
All the houses and buildings are now gone except for the plant at the top
West Winfield in 2021
The snow from a day or two ago had mostly been plowed from the roads but it was rather high along the sides. I found a spot wide enough to pull over, slung my camera bag across my shoulder and worked my way in towards the furnace. I would guess the furnace was only about a 1/4 of a mile from where I parked. The 5 or 6 inches of snow slowed me down a little. I could hear ice beneath me cracking at times as I crossed over puddles. The only prints other than my own were rabbits and deer. It was cold, the temperature according to the car thermometer was 21 degrees.
The hills on the sides of the valley showed cliffs and big rocks breaking through the snow. There were limestone mine openings on the hills though I’ve never been to them and couldn’t see them. It didn’t take long before I could see the outline of the furnace through the shrubs and thin tree trunks. I navigated between the high shrubs to get to it.
I used to come to this area in the 70-80’s. Friends and I would come up to a swimming hole on the near-by Buffalo Creek called 40 Foot. It was about a mile or two beyond West Winfield. We never visited the furnace. There were still houses in the town then, abandoned but still standing.
When we first started coming up we were able to drive our cars back to the “beach”, crossing the stream a couple times in the process. We’d light a fire, drink beer and swim. We weren’t the only ones to use it and it ended up where the only way in would be with a four wheel drive. Some people didn’t realize that there wasn’t a janitor to clean up after them and they’d leave their bottles and cans behind. The swimming hole lost its appeal.
The furnace was built in 1847 and operated for 17 years. It produced 40 tons of iron a week which was shipped to Freeport by wagon (about ten or fifteen miles) and then shipped to Pittsburgh by barge down the Allegheny River. The land I was walking on to get to the furnace was once a railroad bed which went to the limestone company. In the summer you can still see a few ties near the furnace. The line was originally a branch of the Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railroad.
I didn’t visit the furnace until the late 1990’s. There is a geocache hidden there and that brought Ann Marie and me back in 2008. The houses and buildings had all been bulldozed by then.
The Furnace site 1.19.2008
In 2008 the area had been cleaned up, all the vegetation had been chopped down. Now the plants have returned and are slowly retaking what they once owned. In the summer there are lots of vines and prickly bushes to deal with. It is much easier to get there in the winter, you only have the snow and the cold to deal with!
The furnace is showing its age. Still, it looks good for being 147 years old. The top layer has been removed, the inner chimney is gone, stones are falling inside and roots and grasses are widening the gaps between the blocks. As with almost all old iron furnaces, every building that once surrounded them which supported their industry, are gone.
I spent about 15-20 minutes taking some pictures and looking around before the cold sent me back to the warmth of the car. With the vents blowing on my hands, (yes, I did wear gloves!) I headed back towards home, taking the back roads and enjoying the views of farms covered in snow. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again,
“Pennsylvania sure is a beautiful state! You never know what you might find in it!”
1 comment:
Sounds like it was a fun outing
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