Old Shot Tower - Max Meadows, VA
N 36° 52.204 W 080° 52.220
17S E 511557 N 4080466
The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower is a 75-foot tall tower used for manufacturing lead shot located in Wythe County, VA and now adjacent to the New River Trail State Park, a lineal rail trail park connecting the historic towns of Pulaski and Galax, VA.
Waymark Code: WM1C6RG
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/18/2025
Views: 0
Old Shot Tower (L), 12.6 m., on US 52, rising like a lighthouse on the south bank of New River, was built by Thomas Jackson about 1820. The grim fortresslike stone shaft is 75 feet above ground and 20 feet square, and its walls are 3 feet thick. Below ground it sinks 75 feet to a water tank at the bottom. Shot was made by pouring molten lead through sheetiron colanders at the top of the tower. During the 150foot fall to the water at the bottom the drops of lead would assume a globular form. These pellets were then rolled down an inclined plane, as a sorting process: good shot rolled straight to waiting boxes; poor ones zigzagged off to another melting.-Virginia: a Guide to the Old Dominion 1941
This Shot Tower is still there and located in a park now. It is very interesting and while shot towers are a category on Waymarking.com, there are only 32 so far so give this one a try as you're passing through Virginia.
Book: Virginia
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 478
Year Originally Published: 1941
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