Our imagined African-American family visiting the Hopewell Furnace in 1938 would have learned a lot about the vast history of iron forging in Southeast Pennsylvania. “It’s not just Hopewell,” said ...

There’s a national park in Pennsylvania where you can have your history and eat it, too. At Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, you can learn about the iron industry’s role in ...

grandfather of Pennsylvania Gov. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker. Joseph Whitaker & Co. immediately began building a pair of blast furnaces down stream from the gristmill, close to the Delaware River.