Pine Grove Furnace State Park

Our hike yesterday ended at Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  I didn’t realize until later in the evening that I had failed to say anything about the park.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the Pine Grove Ironworks in the early 1900s.  The Ironworks, by that time, had had a long history of one owner after another.  Pine Grove Iron Works was started in 1764 and it produced a variety of products including fireplace backs and iron kettles.  There is some speculation that they possibly produced munitions during the American Revolution.  By the early 1800s, the Pine Grove Furnace was producing wrought iron.

The financial downturn of 1837 put the Furnace out of business.  It eventually ended up in the hands of Jay Cooke and Company.  Cooke changed the name to South Mountain Iron Company and built South Mountain Railroad to bring raw materials to the furnace and to carry the finished products away to market.  Another financial downturn in 1873 brought down the company again.  The furnace was bought again and revived, but by the late 1800s new technologies were putting small iron producers out of business.

Today, as a State Park, it offers hiking and bicycling trails, boating, swimming and fishing on two small lake, camping, and the Appalachian Trail runs the center.  There is cross-country skiing, ice skating, and snowmobiling in winter.  There is also an area open for hunting in the fall.

The son of the second owner of the furnace built a mansion for his wife in 1829.  This huge mansion has been renovated and is operated by American Youth Hostel, Inc.  The old paymaster’s office has also been renovated and is now a cabin available for rent.  The Appalachian Trail Museum is located in the old Grist Mill.

This is a nice park to visit, even if you don’t hike.  In fact, most of the people we saw were here to enjoy the weekend and had no idea about the AT or it’s thru-hikers.  I suppose seeing Beaver in his worn out boots (held together with duct tape, by the way) and dirty, smelly clothes eating a half gallon of ice cream must have seemed rather strange.  I wonder what they thought when we all applauded.

We’ve been doing the usual chores today.  Our campground is nearly full, but the heat has returned so it’s not such a good day to sit out and people watch.

We’ve decided to go to Antietam Battlefield tomorrow.  The forecast is for hot temperatures, but we don’t have to walk around the battlefield, we can drive.  We really didn’t mean to wait to the last minute to go, but those days we weren’t hiking we were just too tired.

That’s all for today.  Enjoy the 4th of July.

The Half-Gallon Challenge

With today’s hike, we have reached the half-way point along the Appalachian Trail--the midpoint between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mt Katahdin in Maine.  We had not originally planned to come this far, but when we got to the Mason-Dixon Line (our original goal) we had another week before our reservations were up at the campground.  So, what to do for a week?  Hike, I guess.

We were both excited to see the midpoint sign.  It was a little odd for me since I was hiking south and got to the sign before I had actually hiked to that point.  Still, it was a special moment.  There was nobody else around so I made my own picture at the sign.  When Gene got to the sign, he didn’t have the camera.  I guess there’s no actual proof he was there.

The old mid-point sign

I was glad to see there was a sign.  We had read that the old sign had been removed and installed in a place of honor at the Appalachian Trail Museum and that a new sign was being made.  The halfway point keeps changing.  As the trial is rerouted for various reasons, the total distance changes, thus the midpoint changes.  The old sign was located four and a quarter miles farther north than where the current midpoint is.  

Even though we passed the halfway point today we did not do the half-gallon challenge which many of the thru-hikers try.  For decades, the store at Pine Grove Furnace State Park has offered the “half-gallon challenge.”  It’s simple--eat a half-gallon of ice cream and you get to keep the little wooden spoon.  There was a hiker, Beaver King, on the porch of the store eating his half-gallon of strawberries and cream ice cream.  He finished while we were there and received a round of applause from everyone on the porch.

After our hike and our lunch, we toured the brand new, just opened June 5th, Appalachian Trail Museum.  It’s a small collection of personal items of those first few folks to brave the wilderness and complete a thru-hike--Gene Epsey, Grandma Gatewood, Ed Garvey, and Earl Shaffer.  They don’t have much, but what they have is nice and well presented.  It’s a start.

The hike today was nice.  The forest was open and along much of the trail there were ripe blueberries for the picking.  We had several stretches of trial along forest service roads.  Because of a detour, one road section lasted for about a mile.

This hike brings us to the end of this section with a total of 345.5 miles since our start at VA 614 at Jennings Creek way back at the end of April.  We have a little more time before we are scheduled to be in Maine for a small reunion with friends.  We’re going to spend it hiking, but not here.  It’s too hot here.  Tuesday, we’re heading up to Connecticut for a few days.  Maybe it won’t be quite so hot there.

Until Tuesday, we’ll be hanging around the campground getting our chores done and getting organized to move.  We may go to Antietam Battlefield Sunday.  We’ll see what the weather does.

That’s it for today.