Hopewell Furnace Cast House

Cast House

NPS photo

Quick Facts

Amenities

7 listed

Accessible Rooms, Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information Kiosk/Bulletin Board, Junior Ranger Activity, Shelter/Cabin, Wheelchair Accessible

The Cast House encloses the charcoal blast furnace. All of Hopewell's products were produced in this building. To the left of the furnace, moulders worked at their benches producing sand molds for stove plates and other cast products. Guttermen dug trenches and runners for iron and slag in the clay floor in front of the furnace. The furnace founder monitored the furnace and water wheel, shouting instructions up to the fillers. All of this work was done over two twelve hour shifts, seven days a week, for an average of ten months at a time. Temperatures in this building would reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine what it would be like to stand here in the middle of a busy work shift. The current Cast House is a reconstruction built by Amish contractors for the National Park Service in 1965.