sloss furnaces national historic landmark

Sloss Furnace is an example of Birmingham's history as an iron town. If possible, take one of the guided tours. Ours, led by a historian, was loaded with wonderful tales about the people who worked at the Sloss furnace and the terrible working environment. It was a very clear argument or the importance of NIOSH regulations. You'll marvel at the massive furnace and blowers. Don't rely on your GPS to get you there since the entrance is directly under an overpass. Our GPS told us we were there when we were above the entrance. Take a careful look at Google Maps and follow the signs when you see them. Definitely an important part of Birmingham's history.

Oh My Gosh... this place is spectacular! An old iron producing site that will leave you speechless. There is so much to see - you take a self guided tour (that may be confusing, but you'll see it all so don't worry) - with the use of your cell phone (a must to get the info you need - you will have no idea what you are looking at, but it's totally interesting). It's a complete factory/production site that you can freely explore (how often do you get to do that?) - I visited in October, and they had a "haunted" trail within the premises at night time. There is a little house outside which shows you how the workers lived. I can keep going on and on - honestly... this is one of the coolest places I've ever visited! There is a tiny shop at the entrance that had a very helpful young lady, and where you can also buy souvenirs. Take a visit - it's amazing!!

Its free, so don't expect a tour guide and rides. It's a good way to spend an afternoon in warm weather. Very interesting to see the old furnaces and equipment.

Entrance is free, we spent about an hour wandering around the property. There was a self guided tour that we found a little hard to follow, but we still had fun looking at all the old equipment. Was an interesting afternoon.

One of the coolest historical sites ever! It's totally like life after people and amazing that you can go an explore this site so freely. Highlight of our Birmingham trip.

This was a great unique experience that gives you insight into the founding of Birmingham. The only one like it in the U.S. I did the self guided tour which was great although the route was a bit difficult to follow. Highly recommended if you are in the Birmingham area.

Bowled over by the ability to wander round and over (literally) a former steelworks - remarkable sense of place and good guide that provides enough information but gives you the space to gain a sense of place. One of the highlights of my vacation. Birmingham should be really proud of maintaining this essential part of its cultural heritage

The Sloss furnace is a great place to explore. Many plaques around to give a history of what the place was used for. There was a haunted house set up when I toured but easy enough to overlook. The architecture of the place is just amazing.

Go at your own pace kinda place. Interesting history about iron making. My son really enjoyed the furnaces.

This was an interesting walk around self guided tour. Kinda spooky since the just had the Halloween haunted house on the premises. There were still some skeletal displays lying around. HA!

I surprised the family while in B'ham with an unexpected visit to this great site. Decorations were up during the day for their ghost walk and haunted events at night. Much less ghoulish in the daylight, but added to the charm of the location. The best part was the tour provided and the step back in time to a different era of manufacturing and hard labor. The machinery and equipment are unlike anything you see today, and the free access to the site had an additional appeal. While I wouldn't drive far or plan a full day around a visit here, it was a neat hour and a half with the family sharing in some education and history.

I am reviewing Sloss Fright Furnaces. We visit this attraction every year because it is tradition, but would I recommend it, probably just for the fact that it can be a fun night with friends. There is a huge t.v. screen showing scary movies all night, a freak show, the haunted trail, the conjuring, the outbreak and the furnace tour. DO NOT pay for the Conjuring what a waste of Money, just skip it all together. DO buy the combo pass, it is worth it. DON'T pay for a VIP pass unless you just want to rush thru and go somewhere else.There are not near enough actors on the trail, you basically walk thru a winding trail in the woods and slide down a slide that is it. The Outbreak was much better last year, you could run from the zombies and the obstacles were better, this year no running, not as many obstacles just fun to walk thru if you don't mind being touched all over (GERMEX), the furnace was MUCH BETTER this year, it is longer than last year, the actors were good. The food prices are acceptable along with the pricing of the Tshirts.

We discovered this attraction when looking online for things to do while visiting Birmingham. The plant is not hard to find and there is ample parking space just outside. Inside is a visitor's center where one can see a short film about the plant. We visited on a Sunday afternoon and received a guided tour of the place by a volunteer. One of the first things the visitor notices is a huge steam shovel. Then he finds that everything about this place is huge including the large steam engines and other machinery. The plant operated for about a century and has been a museum for about 30 years. There is no admission charge and the tour was also free. It's hard to believe that there isn't a charge because this is such an interesting place to visit. It's part of Birmingham's history and should always be preserved.

Was not aware of this place until we drove by it and decided to stop. Went on self guided tour which was amazing due to the enormity of the machinery and the scale of the operation. Recommend researching the History prior to visiting to better appreciate the operation in the proper context of its significance and influence in the growth of Birmingham and growth of the nation. We live 4 1/2 hour drive from Birmingham but we're going back, probably at Halloween for the Fright Furnace. You won't be able to get up close and personal at any other operation like you can at Sloss Furnaces. Highly recommend it.

We had to pass by this place so we stopped, I didn’t think I would like this tour– We started out in the visitor center where a map is given for the self guided tour of the historical landmark where iron was made, basically following the arrows to the end of the tour looking at different components involved in the iron making process, looked up quite a bit because some of the buildings were towering – got good insight on what resources actually was used and needed to complete the process so good learning tour, glad we stopped. The lines are hard to see on the concrete so the map helps to see things in order.