Etna Furnace (Williamsburg, Pennsylvania)
Encyclopedia
Etna Furnace, also known as Mount Etna Furnace, Aetna Furnace, and Aetna Iron Works, is a historic iron furnace
complex and national historic district
located at Catharine Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania
. The district includes five contributing buildings, six contributing sites, and two contributing structures. It encompasses a community developed around an iron furnace starting in 1805. Included in the district is the four-sided stone furnace (1808), gristmill site (c. 1793), canal locks (c. 1832), site of lock keeper's house (c. 1832), aqueduct (c. 1832, rebuilt 1848), two small houses, the ruins of a charcoal house (1808), the foundation of a tally house, a blacksmith shop (c. 1831), bank barn
(c. 1831), foundation of a boarding house, three family tenant house, two iron master' mansions (one destroyed), a store and paymaster's office (c. 1831), Methodist / Episcopal Church (1860), and cemetery with graves dating between 1832 and 1859.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1973, with a boundary increase in 1991.
Bloomery
A bloomery is a type of furnace once widely used for smelting iron from its oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. A bloomery's product is a porous mass of iron and slag called a bloom. This mix of slag and iron in the bloom is termed sponge iron, which...
complex and national historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
located at Catharine Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania
Blair County, Pennsylvania
-Significant Topographic Features:*Brush Mountain*Logan Valley*Morrison Cove*Tussey Mountain-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 129,144 people, 51,518 households, and 34,877 families residing in the county. The population density was 246 people per square mile . There were 55,061...
. The district includes five contributing buildings, six contributing sites, and two contributing structures. It encompasses a community developed around an iron furnace starting in 1805. Included in the district is the four-sided stone furnace (1808), gristmill site (c. 1793), canal locks (c. 1832), site of lock keeper's house (c. 1832), aqueduct (c. 1832, rebuilt 1848), two small houses, the ruins of a charcoal house (1808), the foundation of a tally house, a blacksmith shop (c. 1831), bank barn
Bank barn
A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one area at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom...
(c. 1831), foundation of a boarding house, three family tenant house, two iron master' mansions (one destroyed), a store and paymaster's office (c. 1831), Methodist / Episcopal Church (1860), and cemetery with graves dating between 1832 and 1859.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1973, with a boundary increase in 1991.
External links
- Mount Etna Iron Works, Etna Furnace, East of U.S. Route 22 on T.R. 463, Williamsburg, Blair, PA: 5 photos, 2 data pages, and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Building Survey
- Mount Etna Iron Works, East of U.S. Route 22 on T.R. 463, Williamsburg, Blair, PA: 1 drawing and 60 data pages at Historic American Building Survey