State Museums and Properties
By HOWARD E. ROHLIN, B.A., M.A.
Field Museum Curator for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission administers three properties in the area covered by this guide. Each one is, in its own way, unique. Cornwall Furnace is a fascinating relic of the earliest days of American industry. The Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis Valley recalls the days when horses provided transportation, coal oil provided light and the majority of our citizens lived and worked on farms. The Ephrata Cloister is a monument to the freedom of conscience which since the days of William Penn has been a precious part of the laws of the Commonwealth. The three present a lively and varying picture of the colorful past in old Pennsylvania.
Cornwall Furnace is a monument to the great colonial iron industry which flourished in the Furnace Hills of Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. In the region ore was abundant and so was the timber necessary for the charcoal so voraciously consumed by the old blast methods. Cornwall and the area surrounding constituted one of the most important munition centers of the Revolutionary era.
CORNWALL FURNACE
The Cornwall Ore Banks was the largest open pit iron mining operation in the United States, until the opening of the Mesabi. During its active operation more than twenty million tons of ore were removed. Begun in 1739 by Peter Grubb, the Furnace now stands essentially as it was after renovations of 1845-56, when the water-powered force draft system was replaced by steam. The early machinery is still in place and the plans for restoration include its reactivation.
The village of Cornwall is one of the finest examples of a “company town” in the state; laid out, built and maintained by the corporations which have operated the furnace and mine. The furnace, mine and village are an outstanding memorial to the better side of the paternalistic system so common in nineteenth century industry.
The Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis Valley could well be called the Commonwealth’s attic. Begun as a private collection by the brothers George and Henry Landis it has now become one of the country’s richest and most varied collections of materials dealing with rural Americana. If you have ever wondered what happened to this or that gadget that you vaguely remember on grandfather’s farm; stop wondering. It is probably at the Farm Museum.
The Museum has everything from dead fall mouse traps to steam powered tractors. Its collection of early Pennsylvania farm implements and craft tools is outstanding. Its collection of early pistols, rifles and guns is excellent. In its country store and in the restored Landis House the feeling of the gay nineties and the turn of the century Pennsylvania have been recaptured.