Charcoal House

View of Charcoal House with attached Charcoal Shed visible in back

NPS Photo

Charcoal provided the heat to smelt the iron ore. Charcoal was shoveled into the furnace at a rate of 15 bushels per hour. The charcoal house could hold as much as 30,000 bushels of charcoal, enough to keep the furnace "in blast" even during winter months when charcoal was not produced.

Freshly made charcoal was brought by wagon from the hillsides around Hopewell and deposited under the "cooling shed" portion of this building. There it was allowed to cool to air temperature to protect against accidental fire before being shoveled into the charcoal house for storage until use. The building kept charcoal dry. This was essential. We charcoal would not burn to the temperatures needed for the furnace.