Swatara Furnace - Early History

Hi, I'm Bill Grumbine Sr, amateur Historian, tour guide from time to time, and was also a full time area resident in the Swatara Furnace/Forge area back in the 1940's, I attended the Outwood country school on two different occasions, then moved on to the Pine Grove High School for a number of years before moving to New Jersey where I graduated. My interest in this small section Southwestern Pine Grove Township goes back many years, even though I am no longer a resident of this area my interest has not lessened in any way.

So, why did I set up this little information blog? Well, not too long ago I had the good fortune of gaining access to Volume # 1 of The Swatara Furnace Ledger Book, this starts in 1830. While I have not had nearly enough time to go through the whole ledger I can see that it is a "Goldmine" as far as genealogical information is concerned, many of the surnames in the book are family names of people who still live in the Pine Grove area, some names are the same as the kids that were at the Outwood School when I was there. 

I'm quite old now, this Blogging and Website stuff is new and complicated as far as I am concerned, I will try to do my best to get information and pictures out. To start with I be covering surnames and information concerning the furnace and nearby buildings that were part of the Swatara Furnace Iron Plantation.

The picture below is the full volume #1, at the right is an enlargement, E. & G. No. 1, this stands for Eckert and Guilford, the builders of the furnace in 1830. It seems I have run out of space for this post,more information will follow in a future post.