CORNWALL, Pa. — The Lebanon County African American Heritage Trail is set to be unveiled on Saturday, to coincide with African American History Month.
The self-guided trail includes six spots, such as the Cornwall Iron Furnace, which Black Americans have worked at since its founding in 1742. They originally worked as enslaved peopled making weapons and tools for the Revolutionary War, then eventually as paid workers.
Lori Burrus of Cornwall is a descendant of one of those workers. Her father worked at an iron mine that used to supply ore to the furnace.
“There were a group of miners that lived in the Cornwall area, like my father, that worked at the Cornwall mines. So we started to do an oral history of Black Americans who grew up in Cornwall.”
As an executive committee member of the Lebanon County NAACP, she was inspired to help with the heritage trail effort.
The Lebanon NAACP worked with Visit Lebanon Valley, Lebanon County Historical Society, the Historic Cornwall Iron Furnace and St. John A.M.E. Church, Lebanon’s oldest African American church.
“All of us put our brains together and I said, 'We've done itineraries with success that just have a couple of spots that you can be on a self-guided tour.' So that's what we did,” said Jennifer Kuzo, president of Visit Lebanon Valley.
Organizers say more spots could be added in the future, as well as additional features such as an audio tour.
“As this process has gone on, we're finding a real diversity of Black Americans who have lived in Lebanon,” Burrus said.
The Saturday unveiling will be followed by a gala at the Lebanon County Historical Society from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $40, and details to purchase them can be found here.