During the 1800's, the land now known as Oregon Ridge Park was an active mining village. Between 1840 and 1870, the Oregon Mining Company mined iron and marble there and developed an industrial village to house workers near the ore pits and furnace. Most workers were Irish immigrants and free blacks, and life in the village was not easy. While the men mined ore and worked the furnace, women spent most of their time cooking, and the average life expectancy for a resident was 43 years. One of the 12 tenant houses on the mining property could be rented only by an ore miner or furnace worker, and an 1850's census suggests that 9 people lived in a house of this size. The house was named after Peter Goff, a resident of the Oregon mining town. Oregon Ridge Lake began as a surface mine that became a lake after iron mining dug deep enough to reach the groundwater table, and it now reaches depths of over 40 feet. Three foundations on the Miners Trail near the spring house are remains of other tenant houses, many of which were duplexes. Little remains of the ore-smelting furnace, whose site can be viewed from the Miner's Trail. During the 19th century, open-pit mining was the most common method of harvesting ore and marble, and the remains of those pits can still be seen near the nature center.