Cornwall Furnace was constructed in 1862-1863 by the Nobles Brothers Foundry of Rome, GA, using financing from the Confederate States of America. Slave labor dug a half-mile canal upstream to the Chattooga River to power the airblast, and a tunnel was cut through the ridge to bring the canal out on the south side of the furnace stack. United States troops under General William Tecumseh Sherman partially destroyed the furnace in 1864. It remained closed until it was rebuilt and put back into blast in 1867, then was blown out permanently in 1875. Jungle-like conditions preserved the site for the next century. The Cherokee County Historical Society, led by president Colonel Robert N. Mann, sought for 15 years to have the site preserved and restored. Cornwall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and the county purchased the site in 1975 with gifts from approximately 900 donors. The soil conservation district used CETA funds and unemployed labor to clear the site and transform it into a park. The site is dedicated to the memory of county service men and women of all wars, 1775-present, and preservation was made possible by the unanimous endorsement and cooperation of county commissioners Ralph Meade, G.T. Adams, Sidney E. Davis, Harold Day, and Billy Stallings.