Warwick Furnace Farms

History and architectural features

Anna Rutter Nutt was the daughter of Thomas Rutter, who erected the first ironwork in Pennsylvania at Pine Forge Mansion and Industrial Site. Samuel Nutt bought the original tracts of land for a Coventry with partners William Branson and Mordecai Lincoln, the great-great grandfather of Abraham Lincoln. The furnace was managed by George Taylor when the first Franklin stoves were cast here. The furnace operated through the 1860s and supplied the iron used in the iron-clad ship the USS Monitor during the Civil War. The 786.4 acre historic district was listed by the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

A historical marker on the site reads: Marked 1910 Chester Co. Historical Society}}

Several other sites listed by the National Register of Historic Places are located within a couple of miles of the site, including Hockley Mill Farm, to the east on Warwick Furnace Road, Warrenpoint to the north, Reading Furnace Historic District and Warwick Mills to the west, and Brower's Bridge upstream (west) on the South Branch of French Creek. Warrenpoint was owned by Nutt's partner William Branson and both are considered early iron pioneers.

In 2015, the French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust permanently protected the 554 acre Warwick Furnace Farm through conservation easements and the acquisition of 108 acre, which will be the future home of a public preserve.

The ironmaster's house and workers' houses, the historic farmhouse and the barns in this historic district are currently used in the operation of a working farm.

Gallery

File:Warwick barns.JPG|Barns on the farm File:Bridge 246 Chesco.jpg|Bridge just south of the farmhouse built 1913 over the South Branch of French Creek

References

References

1. {{NRISref
2. "PHMC Historical Markers". Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
3. "Warwick Furnace Farm History.".
4. M. Bennett, M. Busenkell, F.L. Edmunds, E. Morris, K. Murphy, and V. Stoudt. (1976). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania SP Warwick Furnace/Farms". National Archives and Records Administration.