Catoctin Race Pond (18FR327)

Site 18FR327 is a small pond, the remnant of what was known locally as Locust Pond, 2/3 of which was covered by the original lane of US Route 15. The site is located north of the Catoctin Furnace Historic District, along US Route 15 in Frederick County, Maryland. The pond was used for ore washing, and provided water power to run the forge hammers, grist and saw mills, and the water wheels used to power bellows for the iron smelting furnaces at Catoctin.

The racepond was first examined by archaeologists in 1977 during a Phase I survey through the Catoctin Furnace Historic District and environs prior to the dualization of US 15. It was determined that the dualization of the highway would result in the near complete filling in of the remaining pond and the leveling of surrounding features to accommodate the new highway lane. Thus the site would be largely destroyed and warranted Phase II testing.

Archival research and discussions with local informants reveal important background information relating to the site. In the year 1774, James, Thomas, Baker, and Roger Johnson constructed the first iron furnace at Catoctin. In 1776, they began producing pig iron under the name of James Johnson and Company. A complex system of ponds, races, ditches, dams, and aqueducts, including 18FR327, ensured that the water wheels were supplied. One of the most important early products of the furnace is rumored to have been supplies for George Washington’s Army. During the Civil War, iron from the furnace was used to armor the famous iron-clad ship, the Monitor. Over the course of history a number of additional furnace stacks, support structures, quarries, casting areas, and other structures were constructed in the area. Some structures were demolished and improved facilities were built. The Catoctin Furnace continued to operate until the early 20th century. Oral history also reveals that President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the pond at 18FR327 to catch mountain trout during World War II.

Phase II fieldwork in 1979 consisted primarily of a series of 11 soil core borings in the vicinity of 18FR327 and the excavation of 9 trenches. The trenches were irregular in size and shape. Eight were located in the immediate area of the pond and one was excavated to the south in the area where a wooden aqueduct was rumored to have been located. The soil cores indicated that a deep depression in the bedrock underlay the pond, reaching to a depth of 15.24 meters (50 ft). It was interpreted as evidence that an ore mine had been excavated and then subsequently refilled with debris. Thus, the racepond at 18FR327, like ponds to the south, was initially an iron ore mine.

Findings indicated 8 phases of change at the 18FR327 pond, (1) beginning with the iron ore mine indicated by fill debris in the borings cores. (2) After mining activities were completed the hole filled with water from a nearby spring. (3) Those managing the mines took advantage of the new pond and used it to wash the iron ore now coming out of nearby mines. (4) Sometime later the pond was converted into a racepond with water intake and tailrace connecting it to the Catoctin Furnaces by a raceway.

The excavation of the tailrace showed two levels of activity. The first level is associated with initial construction of the raceway (5) while the second level raised the raceway banks high on both sides to produce a channel that carried double the original load of water. This event is thought to be correlated with the development of a second blast furnace around 1856, whose water wheel required the additional water. The racepond was used in this way until 1893 when this additional furnace was decommissioned and the water wheel became an obsolete means by which to power the furnace. No evidence of the wooden raceway was encountered, but it seems likely that it existed and its remains are buried in the pond muck somewhere in the vicinity. Post furnace activities included (6) the use of the pond in connection with Lanceolot Jacques’ (owner and real estate developer of the Catoctin Furnace area during the 1920s) developments, (7) and as a goldfish pond and presidential trout fishing pond. (8) It was used as an ice skating pond prior to being nearly covered by US Route 15 in 1961.

Only 205 cultural items were recovered from the various test trenches at 18FR327. Most of the artifacts came from a shallow pit in the plateau to the north of the racepond area that had been used as a refuse dump.

Research at 18FR327 revealed information useful in interpreting one of the ancillary structures associated with the Catoctin Iron Furnace. This site played a role in the development of the furnace and then later was utilized in an important local industry (goldfish farming) and was visited by an important US President. The site has now been largely destroyed by the dualization of US Route 15. Thus, it has no remaining research potential.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)