The Sherman Lime Company kilns at this site began operating in 1832, though lime burning in Glens Falls dated back to 1820 and large-scale shipment from the region began only after the Feeder Canal was completed, allowing cargo to move to Albany and New York City. Glens Falls is home to black fossiliferous limestone found on both sides of the Hudson River and regarded as exceptionally pure and white, while the area's black marble is among the purest carbonate of lime in the world. Lime kilns burned the limestone with abundant, inexpensive scrap wood from local sawmills, driving out moisture and reducing the gray rock to white lime. Glens Falls lime was used in sugar refining, flour bleaching, wire smoothing, removing hair from animal skins, mortar, and the production of bolts, screws, rubber, leather, ledger paper, and bearings, as well as for agricultural purposes. The kilns were known as perpetual kilns because wood fires burned continuously, with limestone fed in at the top and lime removed from the bottom each day. Each kiln held 250 to 300 barrels and required 60 to 72 hours to burn its full contents; producing about 100 barrels usually took 6 to 10 days, and the yearly average reached 600,000 barrels. The sole survivor of the original lime companies is the nearby Jointa Galusha LLC, which produces crushed limestone for various uses including building many area roads.