Long Pond Ironworks State Park [NJ]
Long Pond Ironworks was founded in 1766 by German ironmaster Peter Hasenclever. Hasenclever brought 500 ironworkers and their families from Germany to build an ironworks "plantation," including a furnace, forge, houses, shops, and farms. A dam at "Long Pond" (Greenwood Lake) on the upper Wanaque River provided the hydropower to operate a blast for the furnace and a large forge. Two more furnaces were constructed in the 1860s. Operations at the site ceased in 1882 due to the industry-wide conversion to anthracite furnaces using Pennsylvania coal. The remnants of the ironmaking industrial structures at this site date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Furnaces, casting house ruins, charging areas, ice houses, waterwheels, and other structures are a part of the remains. The area is currently undergoing restoration: one waterwheel has been reconstructed and several houses stabilized. The "Old Country Store" has been renovated and now houses the Long Pond Ironworks Museum. The original Village of Hewitt grew up around the 19th-century iron enterprise. This settlement included a church, a store/post office, schoolhouses, and dwellings and outbuildings for workers and managers. Many of these cultural resources remain intact or as ruins.
The website of the Friends of Long Pond Ironworks can be found here.
The site offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).