Joanna Furnace Victorian Tea to celebrate the Ironmaster’s Engagement

The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association announces the open invitation to annual Victorian Tea to be held at Joanna Furnace Iron Works on Saturday, May 12. Registers are now being accepted for this extraordinary event. There will be two seating’s, 11:00 am and 2:30 pm.

This year, guests will learn about the recent engagement and upcoming Wedding of Iron Master L. Heber Smith and Miss Jennie Grube. The tea focuses on the roles women of the business class played in the years following the Civil War. Attendees will enjoy a history program titled “Preparing for the Ironmaster’s Wedding”.

The Joanna furnace Victorian Tea is a formal event. It includes light fare and tea served on tables covered with our most elegant pressed linens and finest formal china. Servers will be dressed in period garb to meet this year’s 1868 period. “We like to give the public a glimpse into the life of women who would have been close to the ironmaster’s wife during the Victorian Age,” said Caroline Lee HCVHA Food Service Director.

To follow the Ironmaster’s family traditions, this event is a ‘low tea’ service. That means the tea service will include the same light fare the ironmaster’s wife would have served to her most important guests. The term ‘low tea’ means guests were seated at a low table, typically in the drawing room or sitting room of an estate.

HCVHA interpreters will use traditional recipes to make the light fare which they will serve to guests. “The food is all handmade from scratch so that we will be busy bees the day before the tea service,” said Lee. Some of the fanciful foods they will serve include scones, biscuits, cakes, breads, fresh fruit, finger sandwiches, teas and punch.

Volunteers will also teach guests about proper tea etiquette that was expected during low tea. “It’s a great way to teach little ones about table manners, and hopefully our younger guests will use the lessons they learn here at home and when they go out to eat,” said Lee.

Guests are encouraged to wear their Sunday best; Victorian dress, gloves, and hats are optional. Admission for the Victorian Tea is $22, and registrations must be made in advance to attend the event. The deadline to register is April 23. Space is limited, so register early to reserve your place.

Registration forms are available at www.haycreek.org. You can also call Caroline Lee at 610-670-0098 or e-mail info@haycreek.org for more information or to request a registration form.

Historic Joanna Furnace Iron Works is located just off Route 10, three miles north of Morgantown. Turn on Furnace Road.

Fascinated by 19th-century history? Interested in early technology, crafts, cooking, or how about the art of ironmaking? Enjoy working with visitors, children and school groups? The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association and the Joanna Furnace Ironworks Museum are now recruiting friendly persons who are interested in volunteering to be historical site tour guides for pour 2018 season.

As a volunteer Tour Guide, you will lead small groups of visitors through the 226-year-old iron furnace complex. Your job will be to communicate the breadth of life in a 19th-century iron making community and blast furnace and introduce your group to the interpreters in each of the buildings. You will be taking the visitors back to a different place and time.

Each year over 30,000 people visit Joanna Furnace. The education programs reach over 2,000 students from Berks, Chester and Lancaster Counties. Since 1980, over 1.1 million guests have visited Joanna Furnace.

The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association invites interested persons to participate in one or all three of our Joanna Furnace History Training Classes coming in March. These classes will give basic, introductory level, information on assisting with tours at our upcoming fall festivals, public events and spring educational programs.

The three classes offered in 2018 are as follows:
History of Joanna Furnace – March 13th. This PowerPoint presentation will describe who the real Joanna is, why the furnace was built on this site in 1791 and discuss each of the historic Joanna Furnace Ironworks buildings.

Meet the Smith Family (the ironmaster dynasty of Berks County) – March 20th. HCVHA Executive Director Mark Zerr and Smith family descendent and Education Administrator, Juliana Flora will introduce the Smith Family genealogy. Attendees will learn where the Smith family originated and how they ended up with the Joanna Furnace Iron Site. Did you know that the Smith families’ real last name was MacDonald?

Garb Training – How to dress appropriately for our events and programs – March 27th. HCVHA garb trainer, Barbara Esterly will review women’s and men’s garb throughout the 100 years the furnace operated and demonstrate how to properly wear the period clothing. As interpreters and demonstrators, it’s crucial that all HCVHA Tour Guides and Interpreters tell a complete and historically correct story. To be a tour guide is to be a storyteller.

All the 1 ½ hour classes are held on Tuesday evenings at 7 pm and are FREE to HCVHA members. Non-members are also welcome to attend the classes but will be required to give a $10 per class donation to the organization.

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND EACH OF THESE CLASSES. Please email Mark Zerr at mzerr@haycreek.org or call 610-286-0388. Reservations must be made by March 8th.

On Sunday, March 18th the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association will open its doors to the first educational presentation of 2018. At 6 pm, Mr. Scott Mingus from York, PA will present an hour long Civil War program entitled “Flames beyond Gettysburg.” The program will be held in the Mule Stable meeting room at Joanna Furnace Ironworks.

The Program

In late June 1863, two powerful columns of Confederate troops approached the Susquehanna River in south-central Pennsylvania. One marched northeasterly from Franklin County through Carlisle toward Harrisburg and the other headed eastward through Gettysburg and York towards Wrightsville/Columbia.

This PowerPoint talk by veteran author Scott L. Mingus Sr. will cover the latter command, that of Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early, as it conquered Gettysburg after a series of skirmishes on June 26 and then two days later occupied York, the largest Northern town to fall to the Confederates during the entire war. General Early ransomed York for money and supplies and surrounded the town with artillery and troops.

Hastily organized state militia defended the river crossing at Wrightsville and then burned the world’s longest covered bridge to prevent Rebel passage into Lancaster County, from which Jubal Early had hoped to threaten Harrisburg.

Mr. Mingus is a well-known authority on the Civil War and has authored over nineteen books focusing on various aspects of the conflict and the Underground Railroad. He will have some of his books available for sale that evening.

Students, history buffs, HCVHA members and the general public are all invited to this insightful, exciting program sponsored by the Hay Creek Valley Historical Association. Admission to this special HCVHA educational program is free.

Historic Joanna Furnace Ironworks is located three miles north of Morgantown, PA off Route 10—turn on Furnace Road. For further information visit www.haycreek.org or education@haycreek.org.