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Fall Festival Centers Around Historic Blast Furnace
By: Fred Kight
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In the early 1800's, blast furnances were operating all over southern Ohio.
Iron was being made for shipment to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. There, the iron was turned into finished products such as household utensils and tools. It was a very prosperous time for what came to be known at Ohio's Hanging Rock Iron Region, which included Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Scioto, and Vinton counties. As the availability of charcoal and iron ore declined following the Civil War, the economic prosperity of southern Ohioans also quickly deteriorate.
The Friends of Buckeye Furnace remember it well. "We manage the site for the Ohio Historical Society," says Michael Stroth, who is the Friends president.
He's referring to the Buckeye Furnace State Memorial in Jackson County. There is a reconstructed iron furnace there and a fall festival, which is tomorrow. "Five years ago when we started this it was to draw attention to the uniqueness of Buckeye Furnace," says Stroth.