History & local legend
Cornwall Iron Furnace in Lebanon County is associated with a grim legend about ironmaster Peter Grubb and his hunting dogs. In the version retold by Outta the Way in 2011, Grubb boasted about his hounds before a hunt. When the dogs failed to perform as promised and a companion mocked him, he reacted with fury and ordered them thrown into the furnace.
The legend’s punishment follows the killing: Grubb continues to hear the dogs barking and howling, although they are dead. He cannot escape the sound of the animals he destroyed.
A related story appears in George Henry Boker’s poem The Legend of the Hounds, but that version is set at nearby Colebrook Furnace.
