Bethesda Church Cemetery Wall - Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site - Elverson, PA
Posted by: 
Janila
N 40° 12.216 W 075° 45.509
18T E 435449 N 4450631
The Bethesda Church was established by Thomas Lloyd around 1781 and served the workers from the Hopewell Furnace during its early days. It sits on the southeast corner of the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site.
Waymark Code: WMZ7EC
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 09/23/2018
Views: 2
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site illustrates the adaptability of founder Mark Bird as he initially rebelled against the colonial government by refining cast iron into wrought iron, a process formerly completed by sending the cast iron to England for the refining. As the Revolutionary War began, Bird moved from making refined stove plates to cannons and shot. After the war, Bird was not able to recover financially from the role he played in promoting independence and he was forced to sell the plantation to the Brooke family. By 1816, a clever plantation manager by the name of Clement Brooke, succeeded in making iron products that became very popular along the East Coast until 1837. Again, the business began to flounder but picked up when the Civil War created a demand for pig iron, the product from which cast iron is made. With the end of the war and the development of the Bessemer steel production process, came the demise of the iron forge business. Hopewell remained a summer residence for descendants of the second owners, the Brookes, until 1935 when it was sold to the US government.
The Bethesda Church Cemetery Wall is listed as a contributing building #26 to the Hopewell Village National Historic Site.
The nomination form for the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site has not yet been digitized but I obtained a copy of it. From my copy, Bethesda Church Cemetery Wall is described as: "Rough cut fieldstone, averaging 3'0" to 3'6", with a total length of about 525 ft." Cemetery now closed to burial: Oldest headstones date from 1807. Restored 1982."
Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link]
NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link]
Address:
Bethesda Road, Elverson, PA 19520
How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Other (Please explain in the Private Message field)
Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]
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