Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center
| Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center | |
| Pennsylvania State Park | |
 A gravel trail in Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Northampton |
| Township | Bushkill |
| Location | |
| - elevation | 489 ft (149.0 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°47′15″N 75°18′06″W / 40.78750°N 75.30167°WCoordinates: 40°47′15″N 75°18′06″W / 40.78750°N 75.30167°W |
| Area | 1,168 acres (473 ha) |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Management | Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |
| IUCN category | III - Natural Monument |
| Website: Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center | |
|
Jacobsburg Historic District
|
|
The Henry homestead
|
|
 
|
|
| Nearest city | Nazareth, Pennsylvania |
| Area | 500 acres (200 ha) |
| Built | 1740 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 77001181 |
| Added to NRHP | October 17, 1977 |
Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center is a 1,168-acre (473 ha) Pennsylvania state park near Wind Gap, in Bushkill Township, Northampton County in Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Jacobsburg National Historic District is almost entirely surrounded by the park. Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center is just off the Belfast exit of Pennsylvania Route 33.
The main purpose of Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center is to provide environmental education for the citizens of Pennsylvania and specifically the students of the nearby elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. Jacobsburg stays busy offering hands on opportunities to these students and their teachers with a "discovery and problem solving" approach.
The Jacobsburg National Historic District is the location of the Henry Homestead, where the famous Henry rifle was manufactured. The district includes 11 contributing buildings and 34 contributing sites. Along with the staff of the Jacobsburg Historical Society the center provides a heritage education program, with classes in gunmaking and blacksmithing. Rendezvous and period military encampments are included in the center's Living History program. The Pennsylvania Longrifle Heritage Museum is located in the Henry Homestead.
The production of the Henry Rifle was vitally important to the outcome of the French and Indian War, American Revolution, the War of 1812, westward expansion of the American Frontier, and the American Civil War. William Henry opened his first gun factory in Lancaster in 1750. During the French and Indian war he was an armorer for the Braddock Campaign of 1755 and the Forbes Expedition of 1758. His son William Henry II established a small gunmaking shop in Christian Springs in 1778. He moved his operation to Jacobsburg in 1792. Soon he built an iron forge to provide the needed iron to manufacture the Henry Rifle at Jacobsburg. The War of 1812 lead to a greater need for the rifle and Henry II built a second and larger factory in Boulton. The Henry family continued for three generations in manufacturing the Henry Rifle for use in the Civil War and John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company.
...
Wikipedia