Catoctin Foundry (18FR320)
Site History
The Catoctin Foundry site (18FR320) is a late 18th-century mill race and early to mid-19th-century iron foundry/forge located in Frederick County, Maryland.
Archaeological Investigations
The site has been investigated several times in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Catoctin Foundry was first surveyed by Orr & Orr in 1977 during the Alternate 1 intensive study, where it was "Check 3: Iron-working Complex (Auburn area)." The Renner Sketch Map (1975) had shown a dam with a heel pit and a rectangular "forge" labeled "1760s". Orr & Orr's work investigated a conjectured forge, a conjectured foundry, and an associated dam. The site was found to contain an abundance of iron-working artifacts, products, and cultural materials.
In 1979, John Milner Associates conducted Phase II investigations of this site; work that involved both hand excavation and mechanical stripping. Two years later, in 1981, Milner conducted Phase III excavations. The excavations revealed that several phases of activity had taken place at the site. A raceway running west to east was the earliest feature. Following the silting up of the raceway, the site became the disposal area for ironworking waste—specifically slag and gate metal, from the refining and casting of iron, respectively. Contemporary with this phase was a structure postulated to serve as a charcoal house for the refining forge, located off the site, probably to the east.
A later structure was of uncertain function, but may be equated with a historical reference to a warehouse in the vicinity of the site. In a still later phase, a stone revetted earthen storage dam was built to the north of the site. Finally, in the last period of activity, a driveway to the Auburn Mansion ran across the northern part of the site.
Area excavation of these features and layers revealed artifactual evidence of the kinds of molding and casting practices which took place at Catoctin, as well as of the finishing and assembling of the cast iron artifacts, particularly stoves and hollowware.
References
2008 Archeological Synthesis of the US Route 15 Highway Dualization Project at Catoctin Furnace, Frederick County, Maryland. (Maryland Historical Trust) MHT # FR 304.
1980 Archeological Excavations at site 18FR320, Catoctin Furnace. MHT # FR 25A, FR 25B.
1980 Interim Report of the Catoctin Furnace Archaeological Mitigation Project. MHT # FR 23B.
1977a An Intensive Archaeological Survey of Alignment 1 Corridor, US Route 15 from Putnam Road to MD Route 77. MHT # FR 17A.
1977b Catoctin Furnace Intensive Survey (F05), 1977 Field Catalogue. MHT # FR 89.
