Join us here at the Lukens Executive Office Building as we watch a nationally broadcast monthly talk presented by the Iron and Steel Heritage Forum.

This presentation will explore the production of charcoal fuel to support the 18th-19th century iron industry in southcentral Pennsylvania, focused on Pine Grove Furnace in Cumberland County PA (in operation c.1770s-1895). Signs of the iron industry are still visible today on the South Mountain slopes of Cumberland, Franklin and Adams Counties, ranging from a few still-standing furnaces and historic buildings to multiple large iron ore quarries. The most widespread remnant, however, is often overlooked: charcoal hearths and other traces of turning trees into charcoal fuel. Local historian Andre Weltman will explain the process of making charcoal and its lasting impact on the Michaux State Forest landscape.

Speaker: Andre Weltman

Andre Weltman is chairman of the Friends of Pine Grove Furnace State Park. As a volunteer for PGF State Park, he conducts frequent public tours and presentations on the iron industry and associated topics. Every October, during the park’s Fall Furnace Fest, he leads a small group of reenactors in a living history demonstration to produce charcoal by the same “meiler” technique used historically in what is now the Michaux State Forest, and indeed throughout the historic iron industry of Pennsylvania until charcoal was superseded by anthracite and coke.

Originally from New York City, Andre is a public health physician who worked for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health for 25 years and retired in 2020. He and his wife have lived next to the Michaux State Forest just outside PGF State Park since 1997.