The Folk Gathering at Greenwood Furnace State Park has occurred annually for the past 18 years. The historic setting and natural beauty provide a perfect encampment for musicians with diverse backgrounds and skill levels. My wife, Alyson, and I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this year’s event, along with scores of others who visited from all over Pennsylvania and beyond to camp for the weekend. Musicians descended upon the once thriving iron community, bringing the ghost town back to life for a song-filled weekend of workshops, jams, and dancing.
Although the furnaces have been “blown out” and quiet since the second furnace stack ceased operations in 1904, the grounds hummed again with melodies, fellowship, and contra dancing that carried on into the night inside the blacksmith shop, one of the surviving original structures.
With big-top tents spread across the grounds, it was reminiscent of a 19th-century revival that the Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1867, once held on the same grounds.
There is something truly special and even sacred about the park and the former company town it honors. Aside from the mentioned church, blacksmith shop, and two furnaces were the ironmaster’s mansion (or “the big house” as they called it), a company store, wagon shop, sawmill, gristmill, school, stables, cemetery, and about ninety tenant houses for the 300 workers and their families. The village at Greenwood Furnace even had a 15-piece brass band and a company baseball team named the Energetics.
While the company town is no longer responsible for entertainment, folk musicians did plenty of that. The Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering is a partnership between Simple Gifts and the Huntingdon County Arts Council. According to Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon of Simple Gifts, the purpose of the annual event is to “perpetuate American folk and traditional music, the use of traditional folk instruments, and the social aspect of playing and even performing together.”
John Kearns, executive director with the Arts Council, helps organize and run the event, and expressed that what’s unique about the gathering is its very friendly, interactive, and non-competitive atmosphere. “It’s a place where people go out of their way to try to meet everyone and make all feel welcome, regardless of skill level.” This friendly spirit was evident as we found ourselves in the “Jam Tent” among encouraging musicians and their fiddles, mandolins, accordions, banjos, guitars, etc. Other workshops kept participants busy from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning.
Another unique initiative of the folk gathering is its commitment to preserving musical heritage. According to the program guide, each year organizers “identify a musician with a unique musical background and perspective, invite them to the festival so that all can learn from them, and honor them as a Pennsylvania Heritage Musician.” This year’s Pennsylvania Heritage Musician was Saul Broudy. He has been performing grassroots American genres—from traditional ballads to bluegrass, country, blues, Cajun, and rockabilly—for over 45 years. He is well known for playing harmonica as well, holds a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a “long-time Philadelphia Folk Festival favorite.”
Preserving Pennsylvania’s music heritage takes dedicated and hardworking people like Broudy and the Folk Gathering faculty and staff. Preserving the park’s history has also taken a village of passionate people. Young men of Civilian Conservation Corps Camp S-59-PA helped improve the park and nearby forests during the Great Depression. Others led efforts to reconstruct furnace stack No. 2 in 1936, and the park staff continues to preserve and maintain physical and cultural assets of the site.
While the participants at the gathering had no need to wield axes like the wood choppers of old, they did brandish their trusty “axes” that carry a tune. While the evenings did not glow like they did when both stacks were in full operation, producing 60 tons of Juniata iron a week and about 3,000 annually, participants at the Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering created harmonies that lifted into central Pennsylvania and beyond. It’s hard to say what is most moving about the event: the talented and friendly musicians, rich music, beautiful setting, or tons and tons of history, because it all mixes and melts together into a one-of-a-kind experience. T&G
Local Historia is a passion for local history, community, and preservation. Its mission is to connect you with local history through engaging content and walking tours. Local Historia is owned by public historians Matt Maris and Dustin Elder, who co-author this column. For more, visit localhistoria.com.
Sources:
“Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering 2022.” Program Guide. Sept. 16-18, 2022
“History of Greenwood Furnace State Park.” DCNR. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 2022. https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/GreenwoodFurnaceStatePark/Pages/History.aspx
“Local and Personal.” The Huntingdon Journal (Huntingdon, PA), Dec. 2, 1874. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83032115/1874-12-02/ed-1/seq-3/#words=Furnace+Greenwood+revival
“Miscellaneous.” The Huntingdon Journal (Huntingdon, PA). Nov. 22, 1871.
