Speedwell Forge
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Speedwell Forge Mansion
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| Location | 465 Speedwell Forge Rd., Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 40°12′56″N 76°19′52″W / 40.21556°N 76.33111°WCoordinates: 40°12′56″N 76°19′52″W / 40.21556°N 76.33111°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 06000429 |
| Added to NRHP | May 24, 2006 |
Speedwell Forge Mansion, also known as Speedwell Forge Homestead, is a historic home located at Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The ironmaster's mansion was built about 1760, and is a 2½-story, four bay wide and two bay deep, brownstone and fieldstone dwelling in the Georgian style. It was expanded about 1795 with a Georgian/Federal style wing. Also on the property are a contributing stone summer kitchen (c. 1760), stone and frame workshop (c. 1795-c. 1850), stone paymaster's office c. 1795), and stone privy (c. 1795).
The forge operated continuously until 1854, when it closed as iron production moved west. The property has been restored and turned into a bed and breakfast as well as the Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Peter Grubb founded the Cornwall Iron Furnace as well as the Cornwall iron mines, the richest source of iron ever found in America east of Lake Superior.
In the 1730s, Grubb, a stonemason, began mining in what is now known as Cornwall, Pennsylvania, and literally stumbled upon one of the largest and richest iron mines ever found. (It was mined for over 240 years, until the open pit mine flooded in 1972). In 1742, Grubb built the Cornwall Iron Furnace which used a charcoal-fired blast furnace to convert iron ore to pig iron.
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