Pennsylvania iron furnaces

[TrpnBils]

Referring to these, if you're not familiar: Pennsylvania Iron Furnaces


I'm trying to get a read on one of these near where I grew up. The ruins from the furnace itself are still there, but there are no buildings there now. Looking at an 1861 map of the area there are at least 15 buildings around the furnace, but there's no indication of whether or not they were residential.


Anybody ever hunt around these? I know there's going to be a ton of hot rocks and slag, but it's basically a little town that's wiped off the map so it's got to hold potential I would think.

 

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[jeff of pa]

there are a few in my area.
Non on that list that I can find.
Unfortunately all are in extremely overgrown areas. or
areas owned by Governments both Small & oversized.
So the fact the Iron would most likely play Havoc, I haven't attempted any of them.

 

[Nugs Bunny]

The first link has directions to about fifty of them and the second has the location of at least another fifty more. The other links are some history and more resources.

Pennsylvania Iron Furnaces
Pennsylvania No Visit
ExplorePAHistory.com - Stories from PA History
ExplorePAHistory.com - Stories from PA History
ExplorePAHistory.com - Stories from PA History
ExplorePAHistory.com - Stories from PA History
http://www.oldindustry.org/Links.html#iron
Pennsylvania Iron Furnace Sourcebook - Index

 

[relicmeister]

If everybody avoids them they might hold some surprises.

 

[newgoldfinder]

Some iron furnaces will not let you metal detect near or around them do to history conservation. I live near one and they only let me metal detect around the two lakes near by

 

[Sluice Willis]

There are many old furnaces that are in ruins and nothing special to anybody. Around the furnace itself there most likely will be slag and iron and possibly items related to the working of the furnace. There was typically a small village built around them, so there may be lot's of goodies around a furnace site. Alot of these furnaces ran company stores and paid workers in script that could only be redeemed at the company store. It all depends on what you like hunting for, I imagine there could be lots of relics from early iron making that are worth hunting for.