Charming Forge
Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Erected 1749; once owned by Baron Stiegel. Operated by ironmaster George Ege, 1774-1824. Hessians were employed in Revolutionary days to cut a rock channel for water supply. Site is to the north of Womelsdorf.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Charming Forge rose in 1749 as part of the iron plantations that made colonial Pennsylvania an industrial powerhouse of the British Empire. It was once held by the flamboyant ironmaster and glassmaker Baron Henry William Stiegel and later run for a half-century by George Ege. During the Revolution, Hessian prisoners were put to work cutting a rock channel to supply the forge with water.
Why it matters
Pennsylvania's charcoal-iron forges armed the Revolution and seeded an industry that would help make the nation a manufacturing giant.
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Related people
- · Baron Henry William Stiegel
- · George Ege
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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