![]() ![]() Today, this former track is now a walking path, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with these tower blast furnaces. Located 46 feet above the ground, the Hoover-Mason Trestle used to be the location of a narrow-gauge railroad that would take the materials needed to make iron (iron ore, coke, and limestone) from the ore yards to the blast furnaces. However, for those wanting to explore the history of the steel mill itself, there’s no better option than taking a walk along the Hoover-Mason Trestle. The site is also home to SteelStacks, which is a 10-acre site devoted to arts and events in the area. One building has been reimagined as the fantastic National Museum of Industrial History. Today, however, the site is starting to come back alive. Looking out along the Hoover-Mason Trestle and the Bethlehem Steel Stacks. After they were closed in November 1995, much of the site was left abandoned. This iron was turned into steel that was used in buildings and ships around the world. Once part of the large Bethlehem Steel factory that took up a large portion of the south shores of the Lehigh River, this series of five blast furnaces were built starting in 1915.ĭuring their height, these furnaces could each produce several tons of iron each day. One of the most historic and imposing sites in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is the Steel Stacks. We will make a small commission from these links if you order something at no additional cost to you. There is little shade along the way so wear a hat if you are sensitive to the sun.Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. The seats are uncomfortable but the movie is a great starting place before the tours. The visitors center is minimal and not too informative but do take time to view the continuous loop movie of the history of Bethlehem Steel. There is little in "fast" food and that is not "cheap". We were a bit taxed by the end of the second one. ![]() One caveat, both tours require a significant amount of walking so back to back tours could be challenging for some. Our tour guide, Kathy, gave a friendly fun and comprehensive history lesson on both tours with very little over lap. Later we took both the Rise and Fall and the Hoover Mason Trestle Tours. It was interesting just to walk the trestle, get an up close look at those monstrous furnaces and read the signs along the way. My husband and I took a few hours before the tour to investigate the site. Signs are pretty good getting into the site and parking is fairly plentiful. We spent a wonderful and informative day at the SteelStacks. There are markers with some explanations. Or, just save the money and take a walk along the elevated pavement. Anyway, I would opt for one of the other tours-the Hoover Mason Trestle or the Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel. They seemed to assume you already knew something about the process. I'm sure some of the information was good, it was just very difficult to follow. So, instead of tickets, maybe they should use stickers or lapel pins. Finally, they didn't even know who had paid the $16 to be on the tour! Partway through the tour they realized that a group of people hadn't paid for the tour and hadn't realized you had to pay! Wow. That is so unnecessary and unprofessional. On top of that, the main guy (I think he is president of the archives) made a derogatory comment about the other tours when we passed a woman in a hardhat giving a tour. There didn't seem to be any structure to it. However, from the beginning, the tour was disorganized in terms of which of the two guys would talk (one would start, the other would interrupt one would say xx will tell you about, and the other guy would say he didn't really know much about that subject), and the information that they would give. This one is led by actual steelworkers, which is a big plus IF they were adept at handling tours. ![]() From what I could tell, there are three different tours offered that utilize the SteelStacks area and visitor's center. ![]()
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