If you thought that the charcoal that you are lighting on your back porch this summer was the real thing, think again. The National Park Service re-ports that Hopewell Fur-nace is the only place in ...

The expression “rural industry” sounds like it should be listed among the great oxymorons, like “jumbo shrimp” and “definitely maybe.” Yet the early history of rural southern Berks County was ...

"The plan is to use the charcoal we make here over at the Big Mill furnace to melt iron ore into cast iron," said Jack Gerst, one of several volunteers who created the charcoal pit site at F.Q.

They called it Furnace Island, and with good reason. The narrow tract along Route 61, across from the former Mady Car Wash, was home to iron furnaces beginning in the early 1800s. Indeed, even before ...

ELVERSON – Hopewell Furnace invites area residents to attend its annual sheep shearing and spring charcoal burn on Saturday, May 13. Visitors will have the opportunity to observe both 21st- and ...

During the 19th century, the population in Wassaic, a hamlet in the Town of Amenia, increased considerably due in large part to the innovations and astute business sense of Noah Gridley. Aside from ...