Catherine Furnace (Page County)
Ironworks, Shenandoah, Virginia.
- Side
- Confederate
- Kind
- Ironworks
- Where
- Shenandoah, Virginia
- Years
- 1861-1865
- Today
- Ruins
CATHERINE FURNACE
Page County iron furnace, built in 1846, worked by local whites, free blacks and slaves. Its pig iron went by wagon to the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, and it made solid cannon shot. The 1st Vermont Cavalry set out to destroy it in May 1862 and never reached it.
Then
Built in 1846, it was one of three Page County furnaces in blast during the war, worked by local whites, free blacks and slaves on 22,500 acres. Wagons hauled its pig iron to the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, and it also made solid cannon shot.
The 1st Vermont Cavalry set out to destroy the furnace on May 7, 1862, but never reached it because of the engagement at Somerville Heights.
Now
Ruins
The 30-foot main stack survives in the George Washington National Forest, with a marker on Cub Run Road.
The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by Norfolk Southern, about 2.6 miles away.
Nearby
- 5 miShenandoah Iron Works and Welfley powder millConfederate · Ironworks, Shenandoah, Virginia
- 13 miSheridan's cavalry begins The Burning of the Shenandoah ValleyOctober 6, 1864, Rockingham County, Virginia
- 35 miUnion cavalry captures the Culpeper railroad depotSeptember 13, 1863, Culpeper, Virginia
- 37 miStaunton depotConfederate · Depot, Staunton, Virginia
- 37 miHunter occupies Staunton on the Virginia CentralJune 6, 1864, Staunton, Virginia
- 37 miCuster routs Early at the Waynesboro railroad bridgeMarch 2, 1865, Waynesboro, Virginia