Moratock Iron Furnace - Danbury NC - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

TEXT FROM THE HISTORICAL MARKER

In the 18th and 19th centuries, North Carolinians established small ironworks in this area to exploit the plentiful ore belts. Some early works were bloomery forges, in which burning charcoal melted the iron, and workers used an iron bar to gather the pasty mess, which was then hammered into bar iron. Soon, however, charcoal blast furnaces were constructed against hillsides, and workers trundled iron ore, charcoal, and limestone flux across a short bridge to the furnace stack, dumped the loads into the furnace in layers, and then ignited the charcoal. Giant bellows, typically powered by flowing water, heated the mix to melt large quantities of iron, which pooled at the bottom of the stack. When the ironmaster decided the time was right, the furnace was tapped, and molten iron flowed from the front arch into channels in the sand of the casting floor to form pig iron. Some of the molten iron was poured into molds to produce castings such as pots and firebacks. When the pig iron cooled, it was carried to the forge and hammered into bars.

Nathaniel Moody and John Pepper built “Moody’s Tunnel Iron Works” here in 1843. Reuben Golding, who formed the Stokes Iron Mining Company, purchased the works in 1854. He and his partners incorporated the Moratock Mining and Manufacturing Company in 1862.

Street address: Sheppard Mill Road Danbury, NC United States 27016 County / Borough / Parish: Stokes County Year listed: 1974 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event Periods of significance: 1825-1849 Historic function: Industry/Processing/Extraction Current function: Work In Progress Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/13/2023 Don.Morfe visited it