Old Furnace State Park

Rhode Island

Horseshoes for George Washington's army came out of a furnace here, built from iron ore dug out of swamps.

historicalhikingnatural

During the Revolution, a furnace on this land turned out iron that became horseshoes, sold to the Continental Army. The raw material came from the ground nearby. Iron ore was mined from swamps and bogs. Charcoal came from the surrounding forests. Limestone and gabbro went in as flux. Large waterwheels drove hot air into the fires, and the ore ran molten. Later the same furnace made metal parts for the cotton mills going up around Killingly. It kept working until the middle of the eighteen hundreds, when the local ore and timber simply ran out. The old-growth forest of eastern Connecticut was stripped for charcoal and lumber. Land was cleared for farms. Then the industry ended and the trees came back. Foundations and stone walls still stand, wrapped now in second-growth hemlock, pitch pine, oak, beech and birch.

This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
During the Revolution the furnace produced iron that was converted into horseshoes that were sold to the Continental Army.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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