Pennsylvania’s Hopewell Furnace: from slave labor camp to Underground Railroad stop

Hopewell Furnace’s Journey From Slavery to Freedom

Deep in Pennsylvania’s countryside sits Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, where you can walk through the 19-room Ironmaster’s Mansion and visit the Mount Frisby African Methodist Episcopal Church at nearby Six Penny Creek.

These buildings tell one of America’s most remarkable transformation stories.

What started as Pennsylvania’s largest slave operation in 1771 became a beacon of freedom and equality by the 1850s, serving as a major stop on the Underground Railroad.

The journey from slavery to freedom at Hopewell Furnace shows how one community completely changed its values over several decades, creating a model for racial equality that was decades ahead of its time.

Mark Bird Built His Iron Empire Using Slave Labor

Mark Bird started Hopewell Furnace in 1771 and owned 17-18 slaves, making him the biggest slave owner in Berks County. These slaves dug the water channel that powered the furnace’s bellows.

These slaves dug the water channel that powered the furnace’s bellows. By 1770, Bird owned thousands of acres of woods, iron mines, and water rights, all built on slave labor.

During the Revolutionary War, his furnace became key to the American side by making cannon and shot for the Continental Army while his slaves kept the work going.

Pennsylvania Started Ending Slavery First

Pennsylvania passed a law on March 1, 1780, to slowly end slavery, the first state to do so.

The law stopped new slaves from coming into Pennsylvania and said children born to slave mothers would be free at age 28.

But people already enslaved stayed slaves for life unless freed by their owners. The last slaves in Pennsylvania weren’t free until 1847.

After 1780, slavery slowly died out in Berks County, but black workers kept working at Hopewell Furnace as paid staff.

The War Broke Bird and Brought New Owners

Bird shut down his ironworks in 1784 after the economy crashed following the Revolutionary War. He wrote simply, “I was Ruined, by the Warr.”

In 1788, Hopewell went up for sale, with James Old and Cadwallader Morris buying it while Bird ran to North Carolina. Daniel Buckley and brothers Thomas and Matthew Brooke bought the furnace in 1800.

Clement Brooke took over as manager in 1816, earning $600 yearly plus free use of the mansion, starting a new chapter for Hopewell.

Ironmaster Brooke Made Hopewell a Place of Fairness

Clement Brooke found new buyers for Hopewell’s iron products and grew the workforce by half while making more iron.

Between 1820 and 1825, iron output nearly doubled, then doubled again by the mid-1830s during the furnace’s best years.

By 1830, more than 30 years before national freedom for slaves, Hopewell Furnace paid equal wages for equal work no matter your race or gender.

White and black workers lived next door to each other, ate together, and used the same facilities.

Workers Found Pride in Their Work

In the early 1830s, two widows earned seventy-five cents an hour cleaning sand off stove plates.

Some women worked as miners, farm workers, and woodcutters, while kids learned trades through training programs.

Of nearly 250 workers between 1835 and 1837, 112 cut wood, with 27 teamsters, several of them black.

Unlike typical factories then, Hopewell workers saw themselves as skilled craftsmen selling their talents rather than just workers taking whatever pay was offered.

Life at Hopewell Beat City Factory Conditions

Clement Brooke built more worker houses, grew the company store and barn, added a garden, and built a school for workers’ kids. The company store ran for workers’ ease, not profit, unlike many other company stores.

Brooke banned selling liquor at the store and backed not drinking but didn’t try to control workers’ free time.

Villagers had fresher air and more space than people in crowded, smoky cities, with Sundays kept for rest and church.

Six Penny Creek Helped People Escape Slavery

The Black community at Six Penny Creek started in 1842, just three miles from Hopewell Furnace. At its peak, about 40 to 50 people lived in nine houses across 40 acres of land.

By 1850, it grew into a key stop on the Underground Railroad where escaped slaves heading north could find temp jobs cutting wood for charcoal.

Many escaped slaves found safety in the woods as charcoal burners or woodcutters on Hopewell’s payroll, hidden by the remote spot and helpful community.

Hopewell’s Books Show Its Secret Help for Runaways

Old accounting books show some workers hired for very short times, sometimes just a few weeks before vanishing from the records.

Owners likely helped escaped slaves by giving them paying jobs, putting money in their pockets, and sending them safely north.

Escaped slaves could find housing at Scarlett’s house or within Six Penny Creek while working at Hopewell Furnace.

This setup let them earn money while staying briefly or saving up for their trip toward Canada and lasting freedom.

Black Families Built Lives Around Hopewell

Black families at Six Penny Creek included Isaac and Anna Cole, Aquilla “Quilty” and Catherine Bodley, Jehu Nixon, the Butlers, and Jacksons.

Workers like Peter Jones and John Hart show up in Hopewell Furnace records as wood cutters making charcoal needed for iron.

Isaac Cole, a free Black worker at Hopewell, bought about 100 acres of land over time.
In 1864, at age 40, Cole joined the Union Army in Reading, serving in the 32nd Regiment U.S.

Colored Troops and fighting for others still enslaved.

A Church Served Both Faith and Freedom

In 1856, the Six Penny Creek community built Mount Frisby, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Berks County.

Built on Cole family land, the church also worked as a station on the Underground Railroad, giving safety to people running from slavery.

The church grounds became the oldest known Black cemetery in Berks County, keeping the community’s history.

Isaac Cole’s grave has a government veteran’s headstone noting his service in the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina during the Civil War.

Hopewell’s Legacy Lives On Long After the Fires Went Cold

Hopewell Furnace stopped operations on June 15, 1883, with remaining pig iron sold off over the next five years as the iron industry changed.

After the furnace closed, Black residents continued to live and work alongside their white neighbors throughout the greater-Hopewell area. The Mt.

Frisby Church still stands today on Geigertown Road, with its cemetery containing 19th-century markers of black church members who built this remarkable community.

The Cole family has preserved their history through careful restoration of the cemetery, ensuring this story of transformation from slavery to freedom endures.

Visiting Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Hopewell Furnace tells the powerful story of its transformation from Pennsylvania’s largest slave operation to an Underground Railroad haven.

Visit Wednesday through Sunday, 9 AM to 3 PM with no entrance fee (donations welcome). The visitor center at 2 Mark Bird Lane in Elverson has exhibits and a film about this journey.

Listen to the “Voices of Hopewell” audio program as you walk around. In summer months, you can watch hands-on molding demonstrations.

The Friends of Hopewell also host monthly programs on second Sundays at 2 PM.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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