Caledonia Furnace

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Caledonia Furnace was an iron furnace with connections to political and military history. Located east of Chambersburg off of US 30, the Caledonia Furnace was owned by U.S. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, who opened the furnace in 1837 after settling in the Gettysburg area and named it after his birth county of Caledonia County, Vermont. As a lawyer who defended runaway slaves and a Congressman who was a war hawk who called for complete defeat of the Confederacy, Stevens was not liked by the Confederacy. When Confederate General Jubal Early was passing through the area on his way to the Gettysburg campaign, he demanded that the furnace be burned and destroyed as revenge for Stevens' authorization of confiscation and devastation of property in the South during the Civil War. The destruction of the furnace did not go over well with Confederate General Robert E. Lee when he passed through the area on July 1, 1863, that when he met with Stevens' business manager at the furnace, Lee authorized his quartermaster to provide food and supplies for the workers at the furnace. Stevens never rebuilt the furnace after it was destroyed and a replica was built in its place during the 1920s, which you can visit today.



Sources and Links:
ExplorePAHistory.com - Caledonia Furnace Historical Marker
The Gettysburg Compiler - Beyond the Battlefield: The Park That Once Was Stevens’s Furnace

How to Get There:
 
Location: Caledonia State Park, 101 Pine Grove Rd, Fayetteville, PA 17222, USA

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