Speedwell Forge

Elizabeth Township, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Speedwell Forge Mansion, an ironmaster's residence in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, exemplifies Georgian architecture of the mid-eighteenth century. Built around 1760 as a 2½-story brownstone and fieldstone dwelling, the house comprises four bays in width and two in depth, later augmented about 1795 with a Georgian and Federal style wing. The property reflects the industrial enterprise that sustained it: the forge itself operated continuously until 1854, when iron production shifted westward, while ancillary stone structures—a summer kitchen, workshop, paymaster's office, and privy—document the economic and domestic life of the period. Restored in the modern era, the mansion now operates as a bed and breakfast and houses the Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.