In 1832, Wallace Dixon built a single-stack charcoal furnace constructed from native limestone with interior handmade fire brick. A second stack was added in 1833, using the hot blast method for smelting iron ore. William Bradley & Co. later purchased and operated the furnace, producing about 40 tons of pig iron per week. Operation of the furnace ceased in 1862, when Federal gunboats lobbed cannon balls toward it.