Williamsburg, Pa. - A Hometown History Project

[KG_Panzerschreck]

After taking John around the other day and showing him some of our sights, I have decided to show you all some of our local color. We are a small town but have a big history.

One of the sights i showed John, we fished just down stream from it, about 50 yards, was an old iron smelting furnace. Pa. used to be the seat of all the iron making in our country when it was a young country. At one point there were 500 furnaces going at once in Pa.

This is one of three similar furnaces that helped build Williamsburg in its early years. Originally called "Royer Furnace" after its founder, Dan Royer, Its now known as "Springfield Furnace" after the last Co. that operated it. Built in the 1820's it stopped being used in 1872. I took these shots this past spring before the green came on and its still hard to see whats left of it.





This is a view of the same furnace in operation in 1870. Its hard to tell but the furnace is hid behind the triangular shaped building right of center in the pic. Almost all of this erea is covered in trees now. With the exception that there is a modern bridge over the creek where the old one is and the building in the upper lefthand corner is still there.



Here are three pics, starting at the front of the house and working around the back to the other side, of the original owner of the above furnace, Dan Royer's house. Built in 1810 it is lovingly maintained and cared for. It is also reputedly haunted as well. Its also frequently used as a weekend campout/drilling outing for Civil War Re-Enactors.







Here are three pics of the "Mt. Etna Furnace". Its an erea outside of Williamsburg, haha, I know what your thinking, thats what it was named after.

This one is the one thats in the best shape. It has some wood and steel cable support systems to prevent it from falling apart and thus its in pretty good shape. Take note of Brandi in the first pic as a size reference. She is 5'8" tall so you'll get a pretty good idea just how massive the things really are/were.