Lock Ridge Iron Furnace ~ Pennsylvania's Iron Furnaces

[@kateclark7250]

Interesting place. Thanks for bringing us here and telling us its story.

[@user-David-Alan]

If you noticed on the poster one of the train routes went to Fogelsville which is where the limestone came from. I hope one day you get to go inside because they have the pig iron channels and castings from such. Thank for the video. Stay well and be safe.

[@brandondzia]

I love going there to take photos its a beautiful spot

[@Keith58x]

Thank you for taking me back. This is one of my favorite places in the world, but I don't often get back there.

[@RebeccaODonnell-b9n]

Another terrific video, Cliff. This park is also known for a one acre patch of grape hyacinth that blooms in mid April. Apparently a worker from the iron furnace planted some and they have expanded ever since. I know you love your spring wildflowers so I thought you might consider a return trip to enjoy them. Thanks again, Patrick

[@WALTERZOLNA]

That wildflower bloom is crazy beautiful when you time it right!

[@EdKrisiak]

It's one of the most popular places to photograph engagement sessions and family portraits in the Lehigh Valley. I shot a wedding there . Great location!!!

[@rikspector]

Cliff, My wife Suzan and I were re-enactors at at Howell Iron works in Allaire Park years ago. Many wooden Buildings and the Stack of the Foundry survive, Just like you described, they didn't have Anthracite, WE were also met a man who was probably one of the last people to produce charcoal from pine trees. Jersey's foundries were very important for the Revolutionary War but Charcoal and low grade ore doomed the furnaces throughout the state when Pennsylvania's high grade coal and iron ore were so superior. Fulton's Steam Ship engines were made from the iron extracted at the Allaire forge. I wish it had been open inside when you visited and when we lived in Jersey. We missed a lot of Pennsy history, but at least we have you and your trusty "steed", to inform us. Cheers, Rik Spector

[@kevinsalsbury2118]

Great location! The brick arch bridge carried the Catasaqua and Foglesville railroad on its way to the iron ore mines in Rittenhouse Gap.

[@ruthgoebel723]

What a fabulous place! Thanks for sharing this one. Hope you are feeling better. I have had this cold for almost two weeks now and although I feel better, the amount of gunk that gets stored in one's head is astonishing. Using a Neti Pot really helps clear things out. It's kind of gross but it really works.

[@dennisa.]

Great video. Lock Ridge Iron Furnace is basically "out my backdoor". The Thomas Iron Company had ties to the mines that were located in Longswamp Township as well. There used to be a railway that went from Longswamp Township to Thomas Iron Co. and also up to Fogelsville. There were several Iron Furnaces in the area. A lot of people take their graduation pictures as well as wedding photos at Lock Ridge.

[@darlenegood4101]

I did not read your thumb nail. I thought you were at a church as was going to explore the cemetery there. I was wrong...lol That was a really cool place to check out.

[@lindamccaughey6669]

Such a fantastic video thanks. How wonderful to make museum out of a furnace. That stonework was just beautiful. Also loved the slag mountain. Hope you do go back when museum open. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care

[@donnacarter2617]

This would great for local school day trips for the history. I remember going to the Moravian Village ( near Musikfest is located). The history there was very interesting as well. I think kids would appreciate local history, or not. It would be nice to visit while it's still around. Thanks Cliff, nice video. Also David Thomas had his house on Pine Street and 2nd Street in Catasauqua, Pa. Which are apartments now.

[@davidcassidy5868]

👍🍻Love these old Iron Furnaces and related buildings. Nice post, Cliff. I did not know abt this one. Hopewell still No. 1 on my list of favorites, though. 👍 (closer to home too. LOL)

[@suewarner1781]

Thank You!

[@salfrombport]

That slag pile looks as big as the pile at the Iron Valley golf course in Cornwall. You can see the giant pile from route 419

[@beckyleheny8636]

Fantastic Clive!! I did not know about this Furnace. I live in Cambria Co. I looked it up and Thomas was a well know Ironmaster in Wales who came to America in early 1800s. My grandmother was from Wales. I love learning about Welsh history in Pa. It was later sold to Bethlehem Steel, and they scrapped it. Happy portions of the of it were saved. Thank you for all the history lessons!

[@nancymann5351]

Loved this one! According to that map,it looked like the tunnel was to your right from the map. You went left. Probably why you missed it. I live the blacksmith house. It did look like a church. Great video! ❤❤❤❤❤

[@JayMumper]

Swabian (the creek name) is also an old Holy Roman Empire principality in SW Germany. My ancestors are from there.

[@57Banjoman]

Cool tour-thanks!

[@dayhikedave]

Very cool. 👍👍👍👍👍😁👍👍👍👍

[@maddog2771]

Hay Cliff, there was a big iron furnace in the town of Emmaus at 10th and Broad street

[@donnasilver940]

Very cool and interesting.

[@tomtransport]

So no hours posted when open? I looked elsewhere and found 6 AM to 8:45 PM 7 days a week. That information may be old. I saw a paper on the door but ripped. Maybe COVID restrictions over time closed it.

[@rickimoler7158]

Most museums are closed on Mondays...just FYI

[@SharonPadget]

Impressive ruins!

[@frankie7508]

Long before the West was settled and the country was the country we know it today, Lehigh valley was producing steel and cement , which built the nation. Bethlehem Steel is the company you are thinking about, But couldn't remember their name. 80 percent of the skyline of new york city was built using steel from the bethlehem steel plant in nearby bethlehem pennsylvania. The steel mill is seven miles long. And it finds its roots back to Asa Packer, Who built lehigh university , which started in 1863, Producing engineers which where the first in the nation to begin to design factories and other products for americans. Back then, the steel industry had a voracious appetite for engineers. The coal that they used was anthracite , and it was mined in the nearby pocono mountains(Willes Barre Pa). Cement was produced in nearby portland pennsylvania, Which is where portland cement gets its name today. We often forget that pennsylvania was called the Keystone State because pennsylvania built the nation back 1850 - 1960's. Our politicians abandoned and destroyed our steel industry to foreign competition because they refused to tax the importation of foreign steel products which were heavily subsidized by their own countries and these same foreign countries did not have our wage, environmental, Safety, And labor laws; so they effectively did not compete fairly. The American Steel industry is a precursor to what is going to happen to our automobile industry, Unless our nation's leaders enforce that all foreign nations around the world compete on a fair and level playing field - that means applying import taxes heavily on their goods. Only donald trump is willing to do it. It's part of the gutting of america with our career jobs in industries all moving overseas to such places as communist china, While they bribe and corrupt our politicians against our own public. Why would our leaders destroy our nation as they have been doing for the last 40 years??? History teaches us corruption and brebbery is the answer. By the way , you don't understand much about steel making and that is evident by your questions to yourself in the video. You need 3 primary ingredients to make steel: coal, Limestone, and iron ore. First pig iron is made. Then the pig iron is refined and alloyed with other ingredients to make different types of steel, including carbon steel. The lehigh valley is the roots of the nation's steel making industry which you have stumbled upon At this site. There are massive Slag dumps in nearby Bethlehem PA. Slag can be and is used as a primary ingredient to make other products such as insulation and further refined to make concrete. Want to learn more about steel making? Visit the shuttered bethlehem steel plant in bethlehem , pennsylvania and the industrial engineering department of nearby lehigh university. Your eyes will soon be opened far more. Thanks for an Important part of our nation's history would showhich helped to ensure our development and freedom: american steel.

[@maddog2771]

Lots of new fencing for safety issues I see , the park is getting in bad shape,

[@rickyt3961]

Thank you!