The Tour Test

 After a few days of extreme cold, both Ann Marie and I were dying to get out of the house. We needed to go outside and breathe some fresh air. The temperatures had moved up into the 30’s and we decided to take a ride.

    We left around 8 in the morning; the sun was just over the horizon but sadly it was hidden by thick clouds. This didn’t hamper our excitement, we had a trip to take.

    We were going north, through Butler. I had been writing about iron furnaces and had put together a “tour” that visited 4 different iron furnace sites. On this drive we would be checking to ensure my directions were correct. The last thing I would want to do is to get someone lost in the wilds of Pennsylvania!

    As is always the case, we made sure to have some high test coffee with us. We stocked up at the Vintage Coffeehouse located on the main drag of Butler. Friendly and outgoing people run it and to make it even better, their coffee and snacks are exceptional!

    Fueled up we continued heading north on rt.8 until we reached Harrisville. This was where my “tour” starts. We also did a few geocaches on the way to help the time and miles pass quicker. A few miles east of Harrisville, we came to the Marion Furnace.

    This furnace had been built about 175 years ago and had only produced iron for a little over ten years. This furnace sits in an idyllic spot, it’s one opening almost touches the small stream flowing past it. Ferns and bright green plants surround it making it look almost like a passageway into the underground. In the winter it looks quite different. The stream was frozen over; there was no cracking noise as I walked on it. Getting to the furnace was easier also because the thick snow helped avoid slips on the hillside and the weeds and vines were pushed down, not springing up at different heights just waiting to grab you.

    Our next stop, not counting the geocaches, was above the town of Emlenton. We pulled over on the side of the road and followed the deer trails into the woods. We passed where a barn and another building used to stand. Their foundations were made out of nice stone, possibly from the furnace situated below them.

Date unknown

    This was the Stapely Furnace. It just looks like a pile of rocks but there are many stone walls scattered all around it, if you look closely, you can see the curved brickwork of the inner furnace near the top. Built in 1835 this furnace wasn’t built beside a stream that could power a waterwheel, they used steam to power the bellows that helped raise the heat of the furnace. The outer stonework was missing from this furnace in 1966 leaving only the inner sections visible. The structure has collapsed further since then. When I was here last, the “jagger-bushes” were thick and by coming in the winter, I not only avoided getting caught in them but I didn’t lose any blood either!

    Back in the car we continued a short distance further and then turned onto a dirt road. This would lead us towards the west and to the Rockland Furnace.  The road was still covered with snow and ice but it had been cindered and in places, sanded. We were cautious going around bends and down hills but really had no problems at all.

    The road going DOWN to the furnace was passable and there was a nice wide spot to turn around and park. I made a short trek towards the furnace but the rocks and the path were icy and I didn’t want to risk a fall so I quickly returned to the car.

    We continued our trek, heading now towards Kennerdell. We stopped at the overlook before going down to cross over the Allegheny River and eventually return to rt.8. Here we turned to the north and the town of Franklin, the county seat of Venango County. It was well past lunchtime and our coffee cups were drained. 

    Franklin is a wonderful town, on the drive into it you pass a group of well kept Victorian style house, some very nicely painted and up kept. The town itself has wide sidewalks, no parking meters and a nice variety of stores and restaurants. We ate lunch at Benjamin’s Roadhouse across from a wide park and got some coffee from Iron Furnace Coffee. A fitting place to fuel up during our trip! The coffee was strong and had that wonderful coffee aroma and taste that you can only get in some shops.

    We stopped at a bookstore in Franklin, one of two on our trip but unfortunately, both were closed. We headed towards the south and home, but there was one more stop to make. About 7 miles out of town we pulled over on the side of the road and I climbed over a deer fence and worked my way down to Victory Run. The Victory Furnace sits across the stream at the bottom of the hill. I have been here many times and I always enjoy visiting the site.

    The Victory Furnace was built 1843 and probably only operated about 7 years. It may have been put back into blast for a couple years just before the Civil War but there aren’t any documents to prove it. The furnace sits on a shelf near the intersection of two streams. The snow hid some things from me such as a watercourse coming from the one stream and any slag. Supposedly there are the remains of a charcoal house on the hillside above it, but that will have to wait for another visit! The furnace is in fairly nice shape though it does have a crack running up its front and the lintels in its single opening are cracked. It is a nice, quiet spot to visit and reacquaint yourself with old iron history!

    We returned to Harrisville, the “tour” ended up being about 80 miles long.  There were only a couple small corrections that needed to be made! With only a couple short stops on our way back to Pittsburgh, we arrived home about 9 hours after we left. We put 180 miles on the car in the process. It was an exciting and fun way to spend a winter day!

A Rainy Day Stop

 With the rain coming down steadily, Ann Marie and I took a “small” detour on our way to Beaver Falls to visit relatives. What was it that took us 20 or 30 miles out of our way? It was just a small pile of stones in the north-east corner of Beaver County, not far from Zelienople.

    These stones had been placed there about 210 years ago. While it doesn’t look like much now, this small pile of rocks was once one of only three iron furnaces located in Beaver County. The Bassenheim Furnace is the only one still in existence; the other two disappeared long ago.

    One of the other furnaces, the Homewood Furnace, was located near Elwood City. Back in the 1960’s the furnace site was under the town dump. The furnace, erected in 1858, had been situated along the Beaver Canal. It operated only about ten years.

    The other Beaver County furnace was called The Beaver Falls Furnace, or The Brighton Furnace. This had been built in 1808, the earliest of the three. Operating for about 18 years, it was located near the “middle falls” where Walnut Run enters the Beaver River.

    The pile of stones we visited, The Bassenheim Furnace was built in 1813 by Dr. Detmar Basse, the founder of Zelienople. It produced iron for about 10 years before it shut down. The quality of the iron it produced was good. The near-by forests provided charcoal to fuel it and limestone was procured from a cliff about a mile to the north. The ore came from local sources also.

    Situated along the side of Doe Run or Connoquenessing Creek, a water wheel powered bellows to help intensify the heat of the furnace. A dam was situated across the stream and the water was directed across the wheel to turn it. One of the reasons it closed down was the high cost of transporting the iron after it was made.

    While it was in operation, a small community surrounded it. Housing for workers, sheds to protect the furnace and the tools needed to run it, along with various out buildings such as stables. There were roads leading to and from it, including what I am guessing might have been a road to the top of the furnace where it could be loaded, the path we walked in on.

     The stones are what appear to be field stones, very few of them look as if they have been shaped. There are only a few that show the straightness of the outside wall. The backside has collapsed and is hardly recognizable as a furnace. There are no signs of any other structures in this area.

    A historic marker sits alongside the road, but it isn’t readable to those speeding past in their cars. A larger sign has been erected by the local Kiwanis Club to help bring attention to the site. Most people rushing past this intersection have no idea of the Beaver County history that occurred a couple hundred feet away.

    The rain continued to fall and our jackets and shoes were getting soaked, so we packed up and returned to the heat of the car, with another iron furnace under our belts. Also, there were still a couple geocaches to find before we got to Beaver Falls!

A Spur of the Moment Vacation

 It was Wednesday night and I was debating about taking a ride to Hollidaysburg the next day. There was a talk being held at the Blair County Genealogical Society (BCGS) about, of all things, iron furnaces! The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. The only problem was that Hollidaysburg, the county seat of Blair County, was about two hours away, which would mean a long drive in the dark to get home. I don’t mind leaving on a trip in the dark, but returning home is another thing completely.

    I talked with Ann Marie and we decided to get a room for the night and turn the trip into a small vacation. A few minutes later and there was a room waiting for us for the next day.

    Thursday morning had me loading the car as the sun neared the horizon. Everything was orange, the sky, the clouds and the trees. I debated digging the camera out of its bag but instead just stood for a minute or two and enjoyed the view, then got in the car and started my trip.

    I arrived early at Ann Marie’s but she was ready and waiting. As is always the case, our first stop was for coffee followed by some breakfast. After some eggs, bacon and toast and a very unsuccessful attempt at solving the crossword puzzle on the placemat, we continued with the journey.

    The trees looked great in the early morning light; fall was definitely well on its way. Bits of fog still clung in the valleys and the treetops making the views spectacular no matter which way we turned. A couple stops were made for geocaches and possible train sightings but even with these, we were in Hollidaysburg by ten. We stopped first at the local library. They were holding their annual book sale and we always try to support the libraries we visit. We both came away with a couple books.

    After that, we drove out of town to the cliffs overlooking the city. Known as Chimney Rocks, they provide a nice view of the town and the surrounding countryside. A small, steep hike is required to get to the top of the ledges. We found another geocache while we were there but even more importantly, we visited an iron furnace which was built into the hillside below the cliffs.

    I couldn’t find much about this furnace other than a couple brief mentions of it on-line. I did find some old currency that was being sold on E-Bay which references it and I also found a mention of it in a book dated 1859. This book says that the furnace was near the train station, the furnace we visited was about a mile away and up the hillside. This furnace is interesting in the fact that it has a concave front, only one opening and is nowhere near any water. Is it the same furnace? I don’t know!

    Later that evening, at the BCGS we met Byron Smail who was giving the talk. His book is called “The Iron Furnaces of the Cove! Williamsburg, Martinsburg, Roaring Springs, McKee”. The book covers the various furnaces that had been built in the “Cove”.

    I had never heard of the Cove before. I always thought of a cove as a small harbor or indentation in a body of water. Looking the word up in the dictionary I found out that it also means; “A deep recess or small valley in the side of a mountain or a level area sheltered by hills or mountains”.

    It was a nearly standing room only crowd. What a nice group of people. Byron gave an excellent talk, showing pictures of the furnaces and places he was talking about. He explained how these furnaces worked and the differences between charcoal and coke fueled furnaces. He had some examples of slag and iron “rock” to show also. The man knows what he was talking about! I picked up a few books from the society’s bookshop while we were there. Ann Marie and I were glad we came. We were also glad that we didn’t have to drive back in the dark!

    We woke up to rain but that didn’t stop me from finding another geocache about a ¼ mile from the motel. I then got coffee for the two of us and returned back to the room where I promptly spilled all of AMB’s coffee on the table. My mutterings and curses were probably what woke her up!

    We drove into Altoona passing the Allegheny Iron Furnace, (built in 1836) about a mile and a half from where we stayed. Then we cruised some of the alleys and back roads of Altoona looking for trains and the Boyer Candy Company. They make Clark Bars and Mallow Cups there. I was hoping to get a tour but that was no longer being offered. We made do by visiting the retail store and stocking up on some candy.

    Leaving Altoona, we stopped at the small town of Gallitzin. The public library sits right beside the portals of the tunnels leading from The Horseshoe Curve. No trains passed by while we were there. In the library I saw a book set up on a display stand, written by a friend and fellow astronomer Ken Kobis. Cool!

    The next stop was in Johnstown where we stopped at another library. The Cambria County Library has a bookstore in it and while AMB browsed the shelves, I went up to the third floor to visit the Pennsylvania Room. I looked at a couple of old books about iron furnaces while I was there. On our way out of town we stopped at a small restaurant and had an excellent chicken meal for lunch. We are often surprised at the good experiences we have when we “try” a place that we just happened upon.

    We were back at our homes by mid-afternoon, both of us pleased at how well the trip went. We got some great fall leaf viewing, learnt some new facts about iron furnaces along with seeing a couple, visited a few libraries, picked up some more books, got a few more geocaches and had a whole lot of fun doing it. Not bad for a spur of the moment decision.

Old Books and Iron Furnaces

My grandson Nico and his mother, Chelsey had both recently celebrated their birthdays. This weekend we were going to party! Toss Mothers Day on top and it had all the makings of a good time.  Ann Marie and I were heading out towards Philly for the get-together.

    We left a few days early, taking our time as we crossed the state from Pittsburgh. There were a few spots on our “to-visit” list and the extra day or so gave us time to wind our way across the state, going a little bit north, a bit south, a lot westward and even a bit towards the east. (Yeah, we did backtrack a few times…) This was a great time to explore some of the roads we haven’t traveled before!

    On the first day, we drove through the home of that famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. We ate our breakfast at Punxy Phil’s and then cruised the streets of the town.

    We found a bookstore, B's Books Etc., but sadly, we were a few hours early, it hadn’t opened yet. This is one of the problems with my preferred early starts.

    A bit further north, we found the remains of the Karthaus Furnace. Built in 1817, the company folded after about a year. There were too many problems with transportation and customers. A couple decades later, the furnace was adapted to use coke but sadly this venture failed also. It collapsed and was later rebuilt in the late 1960’s. Within three years, it collapsed again. There is a large crack going from ground to the top on one of the sides still standing, it has definitely seen better days.

    Next on our list was Curtin Village, where the Eagle Furnace stands. The furnace was built in 1847, finally closing down in 1921. The village has a number of original buildings still standing and was added to The National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Looking around the grounds gave us an idea of what it was like when the furnace was in blast!

    The day was rapidly slipping away on us so we headed towards State College where we saw the remains of the Centre Furnace. This stack sits right outside of town. It was built in 1792!

    We then went into the town to visit Webster’s Bookstore and Café. Going down a set of steps from the sidewalk, we entered another world. Books were everywhere with lots of customers sitting and studying, eating vegetarian meals and reading. They have a great selection of books with good prices; most of their selections are used. Ann Marie came out with an arm load. 

    From there we headed (on the back roads of course) to Lewistown where we would be spending the night. Before we checked in, we stopped at The Crooked Shelf, an independent bookstore located about a block away from the town square. We BS’d with the owner for a while in this neat and orderly shop. We both picked up a couple more books before we left. 

    In the morning, while AMB slept, I went out to look for trains. Lewistown has a nice historic Amtrak Station and there is an active rail yard beside it, complete with a turn table! I was lucky enough to see a couple freight trains zip past while I was there.

    Breakfast in another diner and then we headed towards Boiling Springs. Passing through the town of Carlisle, we stopped to visit the Whistle Stop Bookshop but even though we were there after the posted opening time, it was closed. I was looking forward to looking through their railroad books; I’m only guessing they might have some. Hopefully we will get a chance the next time we go through town.

    The Boiling Springs Furnace or the Carlisle Iron Works was built around 1860-1862. They produced iron for about 100 years. An interesting fact about the furnace is that it is located on the Appalachian Trail. Hikers will notice the markers in the picture. Backpackers pass right by the furnace as they enter the town of Boiling Springs. So, not only did we visit another historic site, we “hiked” a small bit of the AT!

    Next on our list was a furnace near the town of York. The Codorus Furnace is rather unique since it was built with a round stack rather than the conventional square, pyramidal shaped furnaces.

    Built in 1765, it helped supply the Continental Army with cannons and cannon balls. It went out of blast in 1850 and has been restored three times since then. The brick structure was placed on top of the stack after it was built to help protect the workers who fueled the fire from the top. It also provided heated air to increase production.

    From here, our interests went back to books. In the town of Enola, across the street from the Norfolk and Southern rail yard was Cupboard Maker Books. The building is hard to miss; the sides are painted like books, stacked up side by side. It is a huge store filled mostly with used books. I headed in one direction and Ann Marie in another. I went to the Pennsylvania collection and then over into Photography and then where-ever my eyes led me. As we wandered through the store, various cats came by to let us pet them. I’ve seen cats in bookstores but so far, only one shop that had a dog, there should be more of those!

    From the bookstore, we headed towards the far end of the state. The party day was almost here!

    On Saturday morning, before the party, we stopped at the North Wales Library to find a geocache hidden inside it. It is a really nice library with a large collection of books for sale. While I looked for the various clues to locate the cache, AMB scanned the sale shelves. Then SHE found the cache. We both took home a book or two from here also!

    Sunday afternoon and we were both ready to get back to our homes. We didn’t make many stops other than shortly after we left. We made our regular stop at Dietrich’s Meats for some Pennsylvania Dutch style meats, and then stopped at the Lime Kiln that is located a few miles down the road.

    I know hardly anything about this other than it is a Lime Kiln, not an iron furnace. We happened across it as we were heading home on another trip. It was all overgrown and covered with trees and ivy. Someone had recently cleaned it up. Since it was Sunday, no one was at the near-by business, so we couldn’t ask any questions.

    From there, we stuck to our route. We passed with-in a couple miles of a few more furnaces but we no longer were in the mood to sightsee, we just wanted to get home.

    Playing with and holding my grandsons was the highlight of the trip, along with the party with family and friends. We left with heavy hearts but are anxiously looking forward to their trip to Pittsburgh in the near future, when we will be able to see them and their parents again. We squeezed a lot into this trip, we didn’t see all the furnaces on our list and some of the bookshops were closed, but they will just be put onto the list for the next trip!

     I have to say, my bed felt REALLY good when I got home!