Today I decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and get out. My daughter is going to be born this Wednesday, so I also wanted to spend one more day out in the Pines before having to take some time off. I decided to spend some time looking for David Wright's Forge, better known as Dover Furnace (not Dover Forge!) in Lakehurst.
I plan on writing a full-length article about this relatively unknown furnace sometime soon, but here's a quick overview of the history. In 1789, David Wright and Caleb Ivins built a forge on the Horicon Branch near Lakehurst. He built the forge as well as a sawmill, but in 1793 offered it for sale. The new owner, John Godfrey erected a furnace on the property and called it Federal Furnace. Sometime before 1822, the furnace was renamed Dover Furnace when Samuel J. Read took over ownership. After the death of Read, Benjamin Howell bought the property, expanding the ironworks by adding a second furnace stack, but by 1855 the works were abandoned.
The location of the works is on private property, so I won't be getting too specific as to how to get there. There is a lot of ground to cover, and I get very nervous when I am walking around where I should not be. There was a deer carcass that was relatively fresh, and it had looked like a truck had drove through some of the fields sometime recently. I am going to try to research the owner of the property and get permission to come back and do some proper searching.
I did have some interesting finds: (click here to go right to the gallery and see larger images.)
A really old fire prevention sign growing out of a tree.
This chunk of slag is what told me I was looking in the right place.
Cellar holes are really hard to photograph.
This was next to the other cellar hole. Judging by the recent construction it likely was not part of any industrial operation on this land.
There were these test wells ALL OVER the place. This one was open.
The whole area was strewn with trash. Not much of it seemed recent. This door is from a 1920s-1930s car.
There was a concrete graveyard.
Which included something that may have been a sawmill engine base.
According to Charles Boyer, the remains of a dam and raceway were visible here in the 1930s. I was unable to find any evidence, but I am still without a good "woods" GPS. I loaded Fugawi and some topos on my phone to use it's GPS, but it wasn't working properly.
It's not too hard to figure out where this place is, however it is on private property. I do not suggest other people go there without getting permission from the landowner.
I plan on writing a full-length article about this relatively unknown furnace sometime soon, but here's a quick overview of the history. In 1789, David Wright and Caleb Ivins built a forge on the Horicon Branch near Lakehurst. He built the forge as well as a sawmill, but in 1793 offered it for sale. The new owner, John Godfrey erected a furnace on the property and called it Federal Furnace. Sometime before 1822, the furnace was renamed Dover Furnace when Samuel J. Read took over ownership. After the death of Read, Benjamin Howell bought the property, expanding the ironworks by adding a second furnace stack, but by 1855 the works were abandoned.
The location of the works is on private property, so I won't be getting too specific as to how to get there. There is a lot of ground to cover, and I get very nervous when I am walking around where I should not be. There was a deer carcass that was relatively fresh, and it had looked like a truck had drove through some of the fields sometime recently. I am going to try to research the owner of the property and get permission to come back and do some proper searching.
I did have some interesting finds: (click here to go right to the gallery and see larger images.)
A really old fire prevention sign growing out of a tree.
This chunk of slag is what told me I was looking in the right place.
Cellar holes are really hard to photograph.
This was next to the other cellar hole. Judging by the recent construction it likely was not part of any industrial operation on this land.
There were these test wells ALL OVER the place. This one was open.
The whole area was strewn with trash. Not much of it seemed recent. This door is from a 1920s-1930s car.
There was a concrete graveyard.
Which included something that may have been a sawmill engine base.
According to Charles Boyer, the remains of a dam and raceway were visible here in the 1930s. I was unable to find any evidence, but I am still without a good "woods" GPS. I loaded Fugawi and some topos on my phone to use it's GPS, but it wasn't working properly.
It's not too hard to figure out where this place is, however it is on private property. I do not suggest other people go there without getting permission from the landowner.
