Fresh ideas bring historic site to life

NORTH CANAAN — In just over two decades, local history enthusiasts have turned a crumbling relic and neglected treasure into a tiny state park.

One of the best things about the Beckley Furnace site, on Lower Road in East Canaan, is that it is an evolving effort to uncover, preserve and teach about the iron industry in the Northwest Corner. 

With the help of grant money, the blast furnace was preserved and turned into a cutaway model of the inner workings for visitors to see and learn from. A long-hidden Leffel turbine was uncovered; it used water power from the Blackberry River dam to send blasts of air into the furnace, stoking fires hot enough to melt iron from ore.

Volunteers formed a group called the Friends of Beckley Furnace. They’ve helped gather the grant funds and have overseen restoration projects such as the one-time paymaster’s house, now owned by the state and restored by the Friends into a learning center. The site is open daily; the volunteer historians are there on Saturdays to chat with visitors and answer questions. 

Now the long-time supporters of the furnace are being joined by a new, younger generation of volunteers. Christian Allyn and Eleanore Jenks both have family ties to the site and the iron-making industry here. He is a college student who has spent four summers at the site as a docent. She is in high school and designed a new website, www.beckleyfurnace.org. They are working on a request by visitors  to make and post videos so the site can be explored “virtually” and in-depth.

The pair is also working on QR codes to place around the site. With a smart phone, visitors will be able to scan each code and receive a wealth of specific information. 

Also new is the formation of a long-range planning committee. They have begun meeting to consider ideas that include an animated diorama of the furnace site and a video projection to show how the site was part of the iron industry in the Upper Housatonic Valley.

The website has a wealth of information already. One can sign up for email notifications of blog posts and even get a unique perspective with a drone video.