Free West Point Foundry Tours This Weekend

Enjoy a fun and fascinating tour of the West Point Foundry this weekend.Tour an active archeological dig and see some metal casting demonstrations at the 6th annual "Day at the Foundry" tours this weekend in at the West Point Foundry Preserve in Cold Spring. Tours will be conducted continuously from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15 (rain or shine).

The team of expert industrial archaeologists from Michigan Tech conducting research at Scenic Hudson's West Point Foundry Preserve will offer guided tours. The tours are free, open to the public and begin on the hour. Learn about the history of the foundry and Cold Spring and explore sections of the boring mill that have been newly excavated. On Saturday, Dean Anderson and Amy Lahey of Super Square Corp. will give demonstrations of how metal was cast during the foundry era (rain date on Sunday).

Additional details or contact Anthony Coneski at 845 473 4440, ext. 273. No pets please. West Point Foundry Preserve is a National Register of Historic Places and a designated site in the federal Preserve America program. In addition to trails passing through bucolic woodlands and along Foundry Brook, it contains remains of the West Point Foundry's boring mill, blast furnace and casting house once visited by President Abraham Lincoln. Excavation of these and other foundry buildings has been conducted for the past eight summers by Michigan Tech, which offers the country's only graduate program in industrial archaeology. Scenic Hudson sponsors their research to better understand how to interpret the site's history to the public.

The renowned site tells the story of America's industrial rise, as America's Industrial Revolution began changing a nation of small farms to one of emerging cities. West Point Foundry was a technological powerhouse. Operating from 1818 to 1911, this ironworks grew to employ hundreds of workers who made steam engines, water wheels, mill equipment and other items that sparked the country's economic transformation. Innovative Parrott guns that helped turn the tide of the Civil War, and massive pipes for New York City's water system came from this site.