Catoctin Furnace (18FR320)

Catoctin Furnace is a group of archaeological sites associated with a 10,000-acre iron working furnace complex dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries in Frederick County, Maryland. The collection includes materials from the foundry site (18FR320), a springhouse site (18FR321), an African-American slave cemetery (18FR323), and a 19th-century miner’s house (18FR324). These sites were documented in 1977 during a Phase I survey by Orr and Son for the proposed dualization of U.S. Route 15 between Putnam Road and Maryland Route 77 in Thurmont.

The Catoctin Furnace Foundry Site (18FR320) is the location of a late 18th-/19th-century iron furnace. Among the principal activities undertaken there were refining iron and casting iron objects. In addition to the foundry, other associated structures and features, such as a mill raceway, a charcoal house, an unidentified structure, and an earthen storage dam, were also located and excavated.

Orr and Son excavated ten backhoe trenches and five test units at the foundry during their Phase I survey. Phase III investigations were undertaken by John Milner Associates (JMA) beginning in the summer of 1979. Nine backhoe trenches were excavated there to locate and explore architectural remains. Thirty-one five-by-five-foot test units were also excavated, and soils were screened through ¼-inch mesh only when deemed necessary for the recovery of small artifacts. A backhoe was then used to mechanically remove the top two feet of fill to reveal features. JMA conducted additional excavations in 1981. Three backhoe trenches and 29 partial five-by-five-foot test units were excavated using the same techniques as the 1979 investigation.

A total of 7,809 artifacts were recovered from the Catoctin Furnace Foundry Site, most reflecting the industrial function of the site. Evidence of non-industrial activities at Catoctin Furnace probably relate to the individuals who worked at the site, including ceramics and bottle glass. In addition, a copper alloy powder flask with an embossed shell motif was recovered.

(Edited from Archaeological Collections in Maryland)