Closed except for Historic Events and
Re-enactments
Wednesday thru Friday 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Weekends
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Every weekend
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Closed except for Historic Events and
Re-enactments
Wednesday – Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Weekends
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Weekends
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Weekends
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
*Call for additional weekday openings in April, Sept., Oct., & Nov.
Closed except for Historic Events and
Re-enactments
March, April, May and Labor Day thru Mid-December
Weekends
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Memorial Day thru Labor Day
Wednesday - Sunday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m
With membership card – 10% off at General Store EXCEPT food.
Free member admission to Historic Buildings on weekends when a fee is charged.
May thru end of November, Saturday and Sunday only. Admission charge of $3.00 per adult, $2.00 per child 6-12 years of age, 5 years and under – no charge. Special discounts apply to seniors and disabled visitors with appropriate New Jersey State Park passes.All Allaire Village, Inc. members will be admitted to the Historic Village free of charge. Admission is free to all events except as noted.
Memorial Day
through
Labor Day Weekends
$5.00 per car
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Christ Church Chapel | Blacksmith Shop | Tinsmith Shop | Collier's Mound | Blast Furnace | Carpenter's Shop | Carriage House | Mule Barn | Slaughter House
 The Furnace Complex and Casting Shed were the heart and soul of the Howell Works Company. It was here that the raw bog iron was smelted down and refined, then cast into iron ingots or pigs as they were called. The name pig, which dates back to medieval times, may be derived from the fact that when the ingots were cast into the sand floor of the casting shed, the mould used to cast them reminded the casting shed workers of baby piglets suckling at their mother.
The earliest records in the possession of the Historic Village at Allaire show iron production at the lands as early as 1790 when the property was known as the Williamsburg or Monmouth Furnace. By 1822 the furnace was being leased and operated by Benjamin Howell of Philadelphia, a business associate of James P. Allaire in the Aetna Works, which would later come into the ownership of John Roach. Howell, it is believe, called the operation the Howell Iron Works and, in 1822, told Allaire about the site. Allaire, who was looking for an inexpensive source of raw materials for his marine engine manufacturing business in New York, was so impressed with Howell's description, and trusting Howell as a business partner, bought the lands site unseen. By 1836, the year celebrated at the Historic Village at Allaire, James P. Allaire would make vast improvements to the furnace complex adding a casting shed, wheel house, bridge house, company office and two smaller cupolas, or furnace stacks, for the production of hollowware, tools and machine castings.
Sadly, all that remains today of the Blast Furnace and Casting Shed complex is the main cupola, the best preserved in the State of New Jersey and possibly the US. Visitors to the Historic Village at Allaire can, however, see casting done at the Blacksmith's Shop where a forge is set up for this purpose.
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