Elizabeth Mine

In the 1790s a body of ore was discovered here, leading to the production of copperas from 1809 - 1880s and the intermittent production of copper from 1832 - 1958. The mine site covered 850 acres, and over three million tons of ore were extracted from open cuts and below ground. By 1834 the site included one of the nation's earliest successful large-scale copper smelting plants. Employing as many as 220 workers, the mine had a major impact on the economic and cultural development of Strafford and surrounding towns. By the 1980s the site was identified as a source of pollution in nearby streams. It was designated a National Priorities List (Superfund) clean-up site in 2001 by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a massive remediation effort followed.