11/7 Colonial Soap Making Workshop

November 7, 2026 from 11 am - 2 pm

Step into the world of colonial soapmaking with Sarah Farnsworth of the Colonial Pennsylvania Farmstead and learn how soap was made before modern ingredients, appliances, and commercially prepared lye.

Working with traditional materials and methods, you’ll make lye from scratch using wood ash, explore the transformation of rendered tallow into soap, and formulate both hot- and cold-process soaps. You’ll also recreate the soft soap that would have been familiar in an 18th-century household, using homemade lye and rendered tallow.

The workshop takes place in a historic farm setting and offers a rare opportunity to experience soapmaking as both a practical household craft and a piece of living history. Warwick Furnace Farm’s own lavender hydrosol and essential oil will be incorporated into the recipe.

Each participant will take home two 4-ounce bars of handmade soap, with additional homemade soap provided as a gift. Whether you are entirely new to soapmaking or already have experience, the workshop offers something deeper than a modern soapmaking class: an opportunity to work with historic ingredients, understand the chemistry behind the craft, and recreate methods used in the colonial past. (Children over the age of 13 welcome).