Spotswood's Furnace

Spotswood's Furnace is a Virginia historical marker in Spotsylvania County, dedicated 1930.

Spotswood Furnace Road, just north of Route 3

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Four miles north, on this side road, is the site of an ancient iron furnace established about 1716 by Governor Alexander Spotswood, the first fully equipped iron furnace in the colonies. Iron was hauled along this road to the Rappahannock River for shipment. William Byrd visited the furnace in 1732 and described it.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

American Geographical Society Library, UW-Milwaukee

Historical maps covering this location

1719 · A new map of the English empire in America viz Virginia, New York, Maryland, New Jersey… (American Geographical Society Library, UW-Milwaukee)
1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Maryland (1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1889 · Virginia and West Virginia (eastern portion). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1944 · Salem Church, Virginia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Virginie, Maryland, 1755, covering the location of Spotswood's Furnace, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Virginie, Maryland, 1755, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Spotswood's Furnace

Historical maps covering this location

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