News Release

Hopewell Furnace Kicks Off National Park Week with Civilian Conservation Corps Encampment

NPS Photo/ A. Kane

News Release Date: April 17, 2024

ELVERSON – Hopewell Furnace invites you to join in commemorating the beginning of National Park Week with a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) encampment on site Saturday, April 20. All programming is free to the public and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Reenactors in CCC attire will offer programs and demonstrations throughout the day that highlight the role the CCC played in restoring Hopewell Furnace as well as the organization’s impact on the entire country during the Great Depression. Activities will include mock CCC enlistment procedures, woodcutting and branding demonstrations, guided ranger tours through the encampment at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., plus activities related to National Junior Ranger Day.

Hopewell Furnace was established as a National Historic Site on August 3, 1938 and preserves the late 18^th and early 19^th century setting of an iron-making community, including the charcoal-fueled furnace, and its natural and cultural resources. The CCC’s presence through the second half of the 1930s marked the beginning of restoration and public visitation to Hopewell Furnace.

The park’s facilities are open Wednesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Hopewell Furnace is located at 2 Mark Bird Lane, Elverson, PA 19520 about five miles south of Birdsboro, PA, off Route 345. Admission to the park is free. For more information, call 610-582-8773 or visit the park's web site at www.nps.gov/hofu