Stack 2 Casting Shed (18FR333)

Site 18FR333 is the immediate vicinity surrounding a mid-19th century iron furnace stack known as “Isabella” and its associated casting house. The iron furnace is also known as “Stack 2”, although it is likely the third blast furnace built in the Catoctin area. The site is situated in the Catoctin Furnace Historic District along US Route 15 in Frederick County, Maryland and falls within Cunningham Falls State Park. It is also subsumed within the broader Catoctin Furnace site or 18FR29.

The first documented archaeological fieldwork done in the area was conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of depression-era relief work in 1936. The fieldwork involved excavation of a 1.2192 meter (4 ft) wide trench 3.6576 meters (12 ft) east of the Isabella stack and parallel to its face. No report of the excavation findings was ever published and the whereabouts of any collection is unknown. Archaeological work was confined to pedestrian surveys, mostly in the early 1970s, until 1975 when formal test excavations were conducted.

Due to the impending dualization of US Route 15, a thorough archaeological survey was conducted throughout the broader Catoctin Furnace area. Since archaeological deposits of known historical value were almost certainly situated in the vicinity of the Isabella furnace stack, a decision was made to move immediately forward with Phase II testing in this area in 1975. Test excavations were designed to document the remains of the associated casting house in preparation for its reconstruction as an interpretive feature of the Cunningham Falls State Park. The decision was made at that time to designate it as a separate site.

Only an estimated 15% of the site, or 34.8 square meters was excavated in 1975. A grid of 1.524 meter (5 ft) squares was placed over the casting shed site with a datum established 5.08 cm (2 in) north of the southeast corner of the furnace stack. Excavation was conducted in a series of 4 major trenches, with tests opened up or expanded when major features were encountered. Eighteen features, 28 major strata, and numerous artifacts and cultural materials were encountered. The finds were recognized as associated with iron manufacturing processes of the 19th century. Major finds included the furnace hearth, the cinder notch (for pouring out slag), the iron notch for releasing the molten metal, two parallel troughs or gutters running down a slope in the mouth of the furnace to the casting floor, upright stakes and gutter plates, a clay lining, and a pig iron ingot. A total of 1061 artifacts were recovered during the excavations.

Researchers returned to the site in 1976 to conduct additional test excavations around the base of a nearby historic retaining wall system. Their excavations revealed details of the engine house associated with the Deborah Stack (a.k.a. Stack 3). Thirty-six artifacts were recovered from these tests.

Additional Phase I work and archaeological monitoring of the site have taken place since the late 1970s, however, interpretations of the site have changed little in that time. The site’s most significant component is the mid-19th century iron furnace and casting house. Data obtained during these excavations were used in the repair of the furnace and reconstruction of the casting house for interpretation. Other significant components include the waterwheel house and probable location of bellows for Isabella and the 1787 Stack. It is believed that the base of the 1787 Stack may be buried beneath rubble from the old retaining wall just north of the Isabella stack.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)