Existing comment:
Iron from the Pines
Natural resources in the New Jersey Pine Barrens gave rise to the regional iron industry
During the Revolutionary War, the workers of Batsto Furnace in the Pine Barrens received exemptions from military service because their jobs were considered crucial to the American cause. The reason? They made the iron cannonballs that the American forces needed in order to win a war against their better-equipped enemies. Replete with bog iron found in the swamps and stream beds, the Pine Barrens offered two additional resources essential to early iron production – water and wood. Dense forests provided the charcoal that fueled the furnaces while stream currents turned bellows and other necessary machinery.
Most New Jersey furnaces produced pieces of iron for non-military, domestic use such as the firebacks and ten plate stove seen here. Designed to protect fireplace walls and radiate heat into a room, heavy iron firebacks often incorporated decorative motifs and the name of the manufacturer into their design. Considered to be the genesis of the cook stove, ten plate stoves were made of ten iron plates that formed a box – the lower compartment contained the fire and the upper contained an oven accessible by two doors. |