Warwick Furnace Farms

Warwick Furnace Farms is a historic district in northern Chester County, Pennsylvania that includes the ruins of an early iron furnace owned by Samuel Van Leer. Van Leer was a notable person, known for starting his military career with his neighbor General Anthony Wayne during American Revolutionary War. Van Leer's furnace supplied cannon and cannonballs for the Revolutionary Army.[3] Van Leer's family and history[4] is also part of historical tour for the Van Leer Cabin[5]The ironmaster's house and workers' houses, as well as a historic farm house and barns now used in the operation of a working farm. Van Leer's furnace was a center of colonial iron making and is associated with the introduction of the Franklin Stove, and the retreat of George Washington's army following its defeat at the Battle of Brandywine. The furnace operated through the 1860s and supplied the iron used in the iron-clad ship the USS Monitor during the Civil War.[6] The 786 acre historic district was listed by the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Warwick Furnace/Farms
Farmhouse
Nearest cityKnauertown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°9′3″N 75°44′28″W
Area786.4 acres (318.2 ha)
Built1738
NRHP reference No.76001627 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 13, 1976
Designated PHMCMay 12, 1948[2]

A historical marker on the site reads:

Warwick Furnace built here 1737 by Mrs. Samuel Nutt was the third blast furnace in Chester Co. The first Franklin stove was cast here and also cannon and cannon balls for the Revolutionary Army. Its last iron was made in 1867.
Marked 1910 Chester Co. Historical Society

Several other sites listed by the National Register of Historic Places are within a couple of miles of the site, including Hockley Mill Farm, to the east on Warwick Furnace Road, Warrenpoint to the north, Warwick Mills to the west, and Brower's Bridge upstream (west) on the South Branch of French Creek.

In 2015, the French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust permanently protected the 553-acre Warwick Furnace Farm through conservation easements and the acquisition of 108 acres, which will be the future home of a public preserve.

  • Barns on the farm
  • Bridge just south of the farmhouse built 1913 over the South Branch of French Creek

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  3. "Van Leer Papers".
  4. Jordan, John Woolf (1962). "Mother's an Engineer". Historical Society of Pennsylvania. pp. 1322–1325. ISBN 9780806352398.
  5. "Dating the Van Leer Cabin".
  6. M. Bennett, M. Busenkell, F.L. Edmunds, E. Morris, K. Murphy, and V. Stoudt, 1976, NRHP Nomination Form for Warwick Furnace Farm
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