Greenwood #2 (4/20/21)
In earlier times, the Juniata Valley was the home of Standing Stone, Iroquois, Shawnee and Tuscarora Native Americans. After 1700 Scots-Irish, Amish and Mennonite Germanic people and other Europeans settled the area. The presence of wood, water, limestone and quality iron ore led to the development of a number of plantation-like iron furnaces, including Greenwood Furnace in the early 1830s. It was associated with the Freedom Iron Works in Burham (near Lewistown about 10 miles away). Within a few year of start up, a small village grew up around the furnace as 1,200 tons of pig iron per year was made at Greenwood for transport and processing into wrought iron in Burham.
When depressed iron prices force closure in the mid-1940s, the furnace was purchased by an engineer with the Pennsylvania Railroad who turned the business around by dedicating production to high quality locomotive and railroad car wheels and axles. The addition of a second furnace and steam power boosted annual output 3,000 tons by the 1880s, making the site one of the largest charcoal furnace operations in the Pennsylvania. In the late 1880s, the original furnace was dismantled, and Furnace #2 was remodeled and enlarged, once in 1889 and again in 1902 to improve production. Still, it was not able to compete with more modern furnaces (e.g., Pittsburgh). The furnace closed in 1902 and the village soon became a ghost town.
Four year later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the property and established the Greenwood Forest Tree Nursery on the site as part of the process of reclaiming the surrounding forests, which had been depleted (essentially clear cut) by the iron production. The Nursery operated through 1993 producing millions of trees per year the were used to replant the surrounding area, as well as other areas of the Commonwealth and areas in other states.
The park evolved out of an annual Greenwood reunion called “Old Home Day” and the Greenwood Public Camp. It was formally established in 1924. Important preservation and rehabilitation work was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and most recently by the DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) that manages it today.
Sources: https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/GreenwoodFurnaceStatePark/Pages/History.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood_Furnace_State_Park
