Submitted Photos
The photos show scenes from Greenwood Furnace State Park from present day to decades ago.
HUNTINGDON — For Van Wagner, preserving the history of Greenwood Furnace State Park is a personal mission.
That’s why the Danville native has been involved with programs like “Old Home Day” at the Huntingdon County Historic Site since the 1990s.
“Greenwood Furnace is a special place,” Wagner explains, “it’s one of those places where when you visit you feel a direct connection to the people who lived there so many years ago, and the park’s interpretive signage and programs go a long way to keeping this heritage alive.”
He’s preparing a special program for Saturday, when Greenwood Furnace State Park celebrates its 100th anniversary, with the weekend celebrations kicking off Friday with a demonstration at the historic park.
The Sunday concludes with a blacksmithing session at 1 p.m. and a historic baseball game at 2 p.m.
In between, there will be a wealth of informational events from 12-3pm, including old-fashioned ice cream and butter making, birds of prey and raptor displays, children’s activities and even a visit from Smokey Bear, who will help cut the 100th anniversary cake at 3:30pm on Saturday. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be held indoors.
“Let’s celebrate Greenwood Furnace’s 100th anniversary as a popular gathering place,” said Jen Moore, environmental education specialist at Greenwood Furnace State Park, 15795 Greenwood Road in Huntingdon.
The highlight of Saturday will be Wagner’s historic program at 2 p.m., concluding with a special 100th anniversary presentation at 7 p.m.
“I’ll be doing a program about the history of steel manufacturing in the state in the 1800s,” Wagner said, previewing upcoming appearances, “plus I’ll be doing a concert of songs I’ve written about my Pennsylvania heritage.”
Rich Poling, a historian and historical commentator from Sinking Spring, Berks County, invited Wagner to tag along. “We’ve had a Pennsylvania traditions program with music for many years,” Wagner said. “The annual performance in Greenwood was something I always looked forward to.”
Little remains of the Greenwood Iron Works’ heyday in the early 1880s, when the community included two ironworks, the ironworks manager’s house, a company store, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a church, a school, 17 stables, 90 rental homes and a gristmill.
About 300 employees and their families lived and worked there. Greenwood Furnace had a baseball team, the Energetics, and a 15-piece brass band.
By 1885, the old furnace had been demolished. The second chimney was remodeled and expanded in 1889 and 1902. However, changing economic conditions, newer, more efficient fuels and processes, the shift of industry to large urban-centered complexes, and the depletion of local natural resources led to the Greenwood Furnace closing in December 1904.
To Wagner and other visitors to the park, the village and life there became merely a curiosity, a fading memory of its heyday of charcoal iron smelting, and the Greenwood Ironworks soon became a ghost town. When the village and the ironworks were demolished, the workers left.
The hearth was not forgotten. Former residents began returning to what is now public land for recreation. By 1921, they organized an annual reunion called “Old Home Day.” Three years later, this reunion led to the creation of Greenwood Public Camp, the precursor to today’s state park.
Wagner wants others to remember that legacy.
“It’s personal to me,” Wagner said. “My hometown of Danville has a long history of steel manufacturing, and Greenwood Steel Works is a great place to understand what was going on in an ‘iron town’ in the 1800s. Greenwood Steel Works speaks to the history of many towns just like my own.”
For more information, visit www.dcnr.pa.gov or visit the Greenwood Furnace State Park page on Facebook.
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