Charcoal production was an important industry in northwestern Connecticut in the nineteenth century. Before Pennsylvania coal became readily available, the iron forges in Litchfield County relied on locally produced charcoal as their primary fuel. At Lighthouse Village, four charcoal kilns stood as mounded stacks of cordwood surrounded by circular trenches that served as fire breaks. In a slow, controlled burn, moisture was released from the wood, leaving a lighter, more valuable, higher-quality fuel. The work was difficult, dirty, and dangerous, and the kilns had to be tended by colliers who maintained the slow burn and prevented the valuable wood from being lost in an uncontrolled blaze. Residents of Lighthouse Village may have served as the colliers for these kilns, whose remaining encircled mounds are remnants of northwestern Connecticut’s long-forgotten charcoal industry.