Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
MAY 24, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 16
Honey Brook Women’s Club presents donations BY FRANCINE FULTON
Park ranger Beth McCarthy (left) discusses the history of Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site with park visitors.
Feeling the burn ong before the days of backyard barbecues, when a trip to the store is required to buy charcoal for the grill, charcoal was made by hand through a slow wood-burning process. At Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, volunteer charcoal makers, called colliers, re-enacted the traditional 19th-century method of making charcoal by lighting a pit filled with wood and keeping it burning over the course of eight days. The spring charcoal burn began on May 13, and it lasted for 24 hours a day through May 20. Volunteers manned the site throughout the week as the wood in the pile “cooked.” According to the National Park Service, charcoal was used to fuel the furnace because its burning provided the intense heat needed to form iron.
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Brahmstadt said. “We let it (cool) for a day and then haul it to the charcoal barn.” Samples of charcoal made at Hopewell can be purchased in the park’s visitors center. Other events on May 13 included the annual shearing of Hopewell’s sheep, as well as fiber arts, blacksmithing and gardening demonstrations provided by volunteers and Hopewell park rangers, who also offered information about the history of the site. Hopewell Furnace is located at 2 Mark Bird Lane, Elverson, about 5 miles south of Birdsboro off Route 345. The park’s facilities are currently open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the park is free. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/hofu or www.face book.com/HopewellFurnaceNHS.
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Hopewell volunteers demonstrate the art of charcoal making A large amount of charcoal was out the oxygen. The charcoal pit required to keep a furnace the size of was lit using burning coals from a Hopewell’s running. When it was “in nearby campfire. Volunteer Clifford Brahmstadt blast,” the furnace would consume explained that colliers were not try800 bushels of charcoal per day. In the early days, charcoal-making ing to burn the wood. Rather it is was done in the woods surrounding left to “cook” to remove the sap and the furnace, and the finished product moisture to extract the carbon. “The fire will burn down through was transported back to the location. “The charcoal pit would not have the chimney and spread out,” been here,” said Jeff Jones, site man- explained Brahmstadt, noting that ager. “Originally what they would volunteers monitor the pit to make have done was cut down the trees in sure the wood keeps “cooking.” the areas in the hills, and where there “People in the night shift watch the were level surfaces, that’s where they fire to make sure it doesn’t go out would build the (charcoal pit).” He and to make sure that it doesn’t noted that because charcoal is a lot vent. As it burns out, vents will start lighter than wood, it could be more to open up that have to be closed.” When the charcoal was ready, it easily transported. For the recent demonstration, was removed from the pile and left volunteers used wood from oak and to cool. “We rake the charcoal out ash trees, which was stacked into concentric circles and let it around a “chimney” and then cov- cool to make sure it is cold before ered with leaves and dirt to keep being loaded into the wagon,”
See Women’s Club pg 3
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Volunteer colliers included (from left) Fred Reisser, Rick Brouse, Eric Girolamo and Jeff Stott.
In keeping with its motto of “Working together for a better community,” the Honey Brook Women’s Club recently distributed donations to local community service organizations. During a meeting held on May 10 at Honey Brook Presbyterian Church, $100 gifts were presented to the Honey Brook Community Library, represented by library director Jennifer Spade; Steeple to People Ministries of Honey Brook, represented by Ivan and Anna Stoltzfus; the Honey Brook Food Pantry, represented by food pantry volunteers Becky Zeeger and Bridget Lillis; the Honey Brook Fire Company, represented by fire chief Steven Kern; and Elverson-Honey Brook Area EMS represented by battalion chief Matthew Welch. Kyle Esh from the Honey Brook Youth Center was unable to attend the meeting, so Ivan accepted the check on his behalf. After the check presentation, each of the recipients was given an opportunity to speak about his or her nonprofits, including the impact of the organization in the community. The club holds the check presentation ceremony annually. “We raise the money to give back to the community by fundraising,” explained club treasurer Cheryl Davidson. “On Harmony Day (last September), we sold chicken and hot dogs, and in November, we did a meat (giveaway).”