The Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation welcome the public to the 29th annual Hammer-In Festival at the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop on Saturday, April 15, 2017.

In recognition of the building’s recent designation as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior, a ceremony and plaque unveiling will occur at noon, presided by August R. Carlino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation. Invited are State Senator Camera Bartolotta, State Representative Pam Snyder, and the Greene County Commissioners.

National Historic Landmark designations are the highest form of federal recognition that can be awarded to properties and sites in the United States. To be designated as an NHL, it must be proved that the site not only possesses integrity, but that its history is nationally significant.

When the designation was awarded in January, then-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said the W.A. Young & Sons Machine Shop and Foundry “…is an outstanding example of a small, family-owned, twentieth- century foundry and machine shop. ‘Job shops’ like W. A. Young & Sons, which did custom jobs for a variety of clients, were an important component of the American industrial economy facilitated by the development of machine tools and line-shaft power systems in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. The property includes perhaps the finest collection of machine tools found in a small job shop.”

A celebration of traditional blacksmithing practices, the Hammer-In Festival is an annual event, held on the third Saturday in April, jointly sponsored by the Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp., the Appalachia Blacksmiths Association, (ABA) the Pittsburgh Area Artist-Blacksmiths Association (PAABA), along with partners in Greene County.

The day’s highlights also include an art auction at 1 p.m., followed by a live Bronze Pour – courtesy of Rivers of Steel Arts. The auction jointly benefits Rivers of Steel, the ABA and the PAABA. Blacksmithing demonstrations and guided tours will occur throughout the day. Admission is free. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Festivities begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The Machine Shop is located about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 116 Water Street, Rices Landing, PA, 15357. It is a contributing structure to the Rices Landing National Register Historic District in Greene County.

Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation is a non-profit that manages the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, an eight-county region and one of 49 such organizations as designated by Congress. Its mission, in partnership with the National Park Service, is to conserve the industrial, cultural, natural, and recreational resources of southwestern Pennsylvania.

For more information on the Rivers of Steel and the W.A. Young & Sons Machine Shop and Foundry, please visit Rivers of Steel’s website riversofsteel.com or contact Carly McCoy at [email protected].