Cornwall Furnace
Cornwall, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Charcoal iron furnace built by Peter Grubb, operated 1742-1883. Best surviving example of the early Pennsylvania ironworks. Now a State historical shrine, gift of Mrs. Margaret Coleman Buckingham, heir of its famous owner, Robert Coleman.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Peter Grubb raised this charcoal-fired iron furnace in 1742, tapping the rich ore of the Cornwall hills to smelt pig iron in an age when American industry was still in its infancy. Under later owners—most famously the Coleman family—the works ran for more than 140 years, outlasting nearly every one of its colonial-era rivals. Preserved as a state historic site, it survives as the best intact example of an early Pennsylvania ironmaking plantation.
Why it matters
Cornwall stands as a rare, tangible link to the charcoal-iron industry that armed the Revolution and laid the groundwork for America's rise as an industrial power.
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Related people
- · Peter Grubb
- · Robert Coleman
- · Margaret Coleman Buckingham
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Cornwall Furnace
Cornwall, PA · est. 1948
Built by ironmaster Peter Grubb in 1742, this charcoal furnace drew on the abundant iron ore of the Cornwall hills and stayed in blast until 1883—an extraordinary run of nearly a century and a half. It smelted iron through the colonial era, the Revolution, and deep into the industrial age before finally falling cold. Today the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission cares for the site as a monument to the state's ironmaking heritage.
Cornwall Banks
Cornwall, PA · est. 1947
The Cornwall Banks were among the richest iron deposits in the world and the oldest continuously worked mine in the New World, yielding ore for more than two centuries. From colonial furnaces that helped arm the Revolution to the industrial age, this Lebanon County hillside fed a steady stream of Pennsylvania iron — long described as the greatest such ore body east of Lake Superior.
Grubb's First Forge
Cornwall, PA · est. 1967
Around 1735, Peter Grubb began working iron just north of here, launching an enterprise that would help make Pennsylvania a colonial iron powerhouse. He relied on the Catalan-type forge—a bloomery method with roots in tenth-century Spain—to draw usable iron from ore. Grubb's early efforts seeded the great Cornwall ironworks that followed.
Cornwall Iron Furnace
West Cornwall Township, PA · est. 2005
Founded in 1742 by Peter Grubb beside a rich vein of iron ore and vast charcoal-making forests, Cornwall Iron Furnace grew into a self-sufficient industrial village complete with an ironmaster's mansion and workers' homes. Its furnaces poured pig iron, cast goods, and cannon for the Revolutionary War before passing to Robert Coleman in 1798 and running until 1883. Remarkably, the works survive fully intact nearby — a rare window into early American ironmaking.