A walk through historic Greenwood Furnace creates images of the community that flourished here from 1834 to 1904. Greenwood Furnace was a busy industrial complex, with all the noise and dirt of a 19th century ironmaking community. The village throbbed with life: the roaring of furnace stacks, the shouts of the workmen, the hissing of the steam engine, the creaking of wagons loaded with charcoal, and the cast house whistle signaling another pour of molten iron. The furnaces were hot (3,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and cast clouds of smoke and cinders into the air, which rained down indiscriminately on grass, people, livestock and buildings, rendering everything sooty and gray. At night the fire's red glow lit the sky, probably allowing residents to walk about without lanterns. Greenwood Furnace was a village built around an inferno. At the height of operation in the 1870s, the community consisted of two furnaces, Ironmaster's mansion, company store, blacksmith/ wagon shop, church, school, seventeen stables, ninety tenant houses and a gristmill. About 300 employees and their families lived and worked here, producing high quality iron that was shipped to nearby Burnham, where it was made into products for a growing national railroad system. However, changing economics, newer and more efficient fuels and processes, the shifting of industry to larger centralized complexes and the depletion of local natural resources led to the closing of Greenwood Furnace in 1904. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the former ironworks land in 1906 and established the Greenwood Tree Nursery to reclaim the depleted forests. The furnace was not forgotten. Former residents began to return to the now public land to recreate. By 1921, they organized an annual reunion, which became "Old Home Day." Four years later, this

reunion was a factor in the creation of the Greenwood Public Camp, forerunner of the park. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed facilities and improvements in the park and surrounding state forest. Furnace Stack # 2 was restored as a monument to the charcoal iron era. Six original buildings and the cemetery remain, including the mansion, church, and blacksmith/ wagon shop. In 1976, archeological work began to uncover the hidden remains of the community. In 1989, the National Park Service established the Greenwood Furnace Historic District due to the historical and archeological significance of the former ironworks community. In 1995, Greenwood Furnace was designated a Historic Landmark by ASM International (formerly the American Society for Metal). Greenwood Furnace is only the 95th site in the world to be so honored. This distinction recognizes the superior quality of Greenwood Iron that was used in the westward expansion of America's railroads.