History, hands-on learning will be on tap at Cornwall Iron Furnace’s open house

Cornwall Iron Furnace invites the public to a day of history, hands-on learning, and family fun at the site’s annual spring open house.

The event will run rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2. Admission is $10 for anyone 13 or older, $5 for children 12 or younger, and free for members of the Friends of Cornwall Iron Furnace, and includes access to all demonstrations, activities, tours, exhibits, and the museum store.

Visitors are invited to explore the historic furnace grounds and experience the sights, sounds, and flavors of early American life, a release says. The event features guided furnace tours, cast-iron cooking demonstrations, and a variety of engaging living-history presentations that are debuting this year.

This year’s program highlights “how families living and working in the Cornwall community welcomed the spring season in the 18th and 19th centuries,” the release explains. “Knowledgeable historians and costumed interpreters will demonstrate historic skills and traditions, such as militia mustering, textile dyeing and spinning, bread baking and butter churning, industrial charcoal burning, and more. Guests will have plenty of opportunities to ask questions and participate in hands-on activities with living-history interpreters throughout the day.”

Cast-iron cooking demonstrations will be held around the fire pit, where patrons can watch skilled volunteer cooks prepare recipes using traditional cast-iron cookware over an open flame. Visitors can learn practical cooking tips, sample freshly prepared dishes (while supplies last), and discover inspiration for recreating these historic recipes at home.

The guided tours take visitors inside the only surviving intact charcoal cold-blast iron furnace in the Western Hemisphere, a reminder of the once-thriving iron industry that shaped south-central Pennsylvania and helped build the nation. During this guided experience, visitors will explore the heart of this exceptional National Historic Landmark by entering the charging room and descending 32 feet down the furnace stack. Along the way, guides will explain how ironworkers produced high-quality Cornwall iron during the furnace’s 141 years of operation, from 1742 to 1883.

Tours last approximately 45 minutes and begin hourly starting at 10 a.m., with the final tour departing at 3 p.m.

Exhibits of artifacts and stories from Cornwall’s iron-making history will be open in the Visitor Center. Purchases in the museum store support the preservation and educational mission of Cornwall Iron Furnace.

For more information or to reserve a tour, call 717-272-9711.