Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

Visited: August 2018

Duration: 2 hours

Accommodations: Salem Waterfront Hotel and Suites, Salem, MA

After a fantastic day in Salem we woke up and got this day going at Saugus Iron Works.  When we arrived, we had a hard time finding anyone. Finally a volunteer showed up and opened the visitor center for us.  She didn’t have a ton of knowledge only that all rangers and park officials were in a meeting.  I guess we are on our own here. We went to the park page on my phone and downloaded the self guided tour.  Here is another park that gives you a Jr. Ranger back pack full of goodies to use as you tour the park.

This park is beautiful (and empty at the time), we really enjoyed the peace and tranquility here. We didn’t get to go through the museum because the volunteer couldn’t figure out how to turn the lights on.  Oops. We headed out to the blast furnace. A blast furnace was developed in the 1300’s and introduced the principle behind iron making. The kids really enjoyed learning how this worked, and dad did a great job of explaining it.

Next up The Forge, most of the iron produced was moved over to the forge and then was made into wrought iron, Saugus works’ major product.

The Rolling and slitting mill was our last stop.  The slitting mill produced rods that were cut into nails, also forged here were hinges, hoes, shovels, latches and other handy items.

We ventured into the back area of the park where the blacksmith shop is located.  The pond was nice and as I stated before this is a beautiful park.

We headed back to the visitor center for our cancellations and Junior Ranger badges.

Off to Rhode Island for the rest of the day. Check back for more stops on our National Park Trip Season 3, we aren’t even close to being done yet 🙂