Page 20 - Discover Fall 2021

Forging A Nation CONTINUED

limestone, and charcoal, carried by wagons incomplete combustion, producing charcoal.
over a ten yard long bridge to the top of the This method was used rather than shipping
furnace. the wood to a kiln, because it could be
done right where the wood was cut. A
In 1779, a house was built near the
typical charcoal pit could process up to
forge, and is known as “The Farm”. It was
30 cords of wood into charcoal, reaching
built for Peter Saunders, who managed it. It
peak temperatures of around 750 degrees
was later remodeled in 1850 as a Classical
Fahrenheit.
Revival Structure, and it still stands there
today. The Farm at The Furnace was the first One might wonder: why not just use
meeting place of the Franklin County Court wood to fuel the forge instead of charcoal?
in 1786. A forge requires a steady, intense heat,
and charcoal burns much hotter and more
Iron furnaces needed three important
evenly than seasoned wood. Charcoal also
resources in order to operate: iron ore,
is much lighter and smaller in volume than
plenty of timber, and a nearby water source.
an equivalent amount of wood. So it was
The water was needed in order to power a
easier to transport to the forge than the wood
waterwheel, which propelled the huge bellows
from which it was made. Cutting so much
that fed air to the fire. This made Appalachia
timber might lead one to think that the area
an ideal place to locate such iron forges.
would be quickly deforested, but even back
It didn’t take many hands to operate the
then, forests were carefully managed, and the
forge, but it many more people were needed
operation spanned across some 18,000 acres.
in order to provide the mining, hauling,
lumberjacking, and other support services. Washington Iron Furnace continued to
operate until 1850, when the Saunders family
One of the more interesting aspects
stopped running it due to damage resulting
of these services was the production of
from a dam break. The mines continued to
charcoal. Today, we think of charcoal as
produce ore until about 1880, when the cost
it comes in heavy paper bags for backyard
of shipping the ore to Pennsylvania became
grilling. Those are actually called “charcoal
impractically high.
briquets”, which are formed from a mixture
of charcoal, sawdust, coal dust, and minerals. In 1973, Washington Iron Furnace was
True charcoal is different. It is produced by added to the National Register of Historic
men known as “colliers”. The process is very
Places. More recently, a grandson of the present
labor-intensive; it requires the construction
owner of the property was playing near the
of “charcoal pits”, huge mounds of densely-
furnace, and uncovered an old casting dated
packed cut timber that is covered in leaves,
followed by a layer of dirt, with a chimney in 1786. It is believed to be a product of the forge,
the center. and was probably made to be used as a fireback.
In any case, thanks in part to the forge itself and
A fire is introduced into the chimney.
its place in history, the piece was undoubtedly
The leaves insulate the wood from the dirt,
“Made in U.S.A”.
and the dirt seals the wood from the air. This
allows the wood to be “baked” or “roasted”,
forcing the steam out of it, resulting in

18 Discover Smith Mountain Lake FALL 2021