After visiting Cross Keys Battlefield, I drove northward and eastward to the Catherine Furnace, located southwest of Newport, Virginia. I turned off of U.S. 340 onto Newport Road and then onto Catherine Furnace Road, which is full of gravel, exposed rocks, and potholes. I thus had to be very careful with the Bigfootmobile, but after a few hundred yards, I found the furnace's parking area. Here's the side facing the road.
A small creek called Roaring Run flows just east of the furnace, and into Cub Run. On the other side of the creek were some walls.
This side of the furnace faces away from the road.
Lastly, I took a pic of what must have been a lower mouth in the furnace.
From what I've been able to gather, Catherine Furnace was used to produce pig iron and was operated between the 1840s and 1880s. During the Civil War, it was manned by both free and enslaved blacks, with the product being sent to Richmond for Confederate military use. To learn more, go to Roots Run Deep, Page Valley Virginia, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
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