Catoctin Iron Furnace began operations in the 1700's when early settlers in Frederick County discovered iron on Catoctin Mountain. Abundant wood and limestone were also nearby. A nearby creek powered the bellows. Later steam was used to power the bellows. Pig iron was shipped to iron works elseware. During the Revolutionary War, cannon balls were made for Washington's Army. Over the years, three furnaces were built. This is the only one still standing. The furnance ceased operations in 1903. The furnace is on the eastern edge of Cunningham Falls State Park.
Furnace at far end of casting shed
Closer to furnace
Casting shed with restored roof
11 comments:
I love that big, stone fireplace. Lovely photos.
Hi Lew, I have been to Catoctin many times and have never seen this place. Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos. Have a great evening.
What a terrific and interesting post for the day, Lew! And your photos are superb! I do love old places like this -- but they're a little hard to find in the northwest, we're still to young to have that much history going back that far! Thanks for sharing this!! Have a great week!
sylvia
Cool, I have a friend who was there not long ago and was telling me about it. Neat to see it here.
What fun it was to view your photos this week. We live in an area with many iron furnaces and are always going to see and hike around them. We have not seen any of the sheds or an iron master’s house, but now I will on the lookout. Thank goodness this one is being cared for because our are not.The structure are almost identical with the exception of the shed. genie
I love the old brick and stone...
Interesting history with these buildings.
Thank you for sharing these beautiful shots...
Hugs,
Jackie
Wow, the early 1700s is a long time ago for North America. Glad some of it has been preserved, Lew. A shame about the house, though.
K
That's a long time to be out of work!! Maybe that's why it looks so peaceful and relaxed??!!
What a nice informative post Lew. We have a few derelict ones littering our near desert country as well.
Fabulous shots - so lovely.
I hope they maintain it and keep it standing. Was watching a documentary on some place in USA where there is a lot of sand. The buildings are abandoned, and they would have been beautiful, and not very old, in fact my age. How sad, people moved on when there were no more minerals.
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