Sloane Museum will mark 200th anniversary of local iron making

KENT, Conn.—The Eric Sloane Museum will expand its program offerings in 2026 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Kent iron furnace.

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the furnace, museum personnel have partnered with the Southern New England Apprenticeship Grant to host a team of iron smelters and blacksmiths. Over the coming months, this team will participate in a mentorship and apprenticeship program dedicated to preserving and promoting the historic craft of iron smelting. 

Their efforts will culminate in a capstone project: recreating an iron smelting bloomery during the museum’s annual Ironworks Weekend on May 16-17.

Iron production at the site went on for almost seven decades, from 1826 until 1892. A well-preserved, historic stone blast furnace, that produced pig iron from local ore, is located on the museum grounds and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a significant remnant of Connecticut’s industrial past, showing Gothic-arched openings and granite construction, with surrounding areas revealing former mines, quarries, and charcoal production sites crucial to its operation.

The Southern New England Apprenticeship Program is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts and the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, with support from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.

In addition to the iron making program, The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum are seeking to create a new hands-on classroom at the museum to provide skilled tradespeople and artisans a space to share their knowledge and skill with students of all ages. Donations are sought to help with this project.

In recent years the museum has hosted a series of workshops on traditional crafts during its summer season, including such former artisan crafts as broom making, spoon carving, wood hewing and blacksmithing. 

For additional information and updates about the museum, click here.

The main museum features works of art by Eric Sloane and houses a reconstruction of his studio and an extensive collection of early American tools. Eric Sloane (1905-1985) was a prolific artist, author and illustrator of over 30 books, and an avid collector of Americana. His extensive collection of hand tools is displayed in a building gifted to the State by the Connecticut-based Stanley Works to mark the company’s 125th anniversary. 

The museum, currently closed for the season, is located at 31 Kent Cornwall Road.