Preparing the Hearth

At one of many sites in the park where colliers burned wood to make charcoal, blackened soil marks a hearth where a collier first cleared a level area 30 to 40 feet in diameter. Each time he used the hearth, he raked dirt and dust aside, then a hauler pulled a sled into the area and stacked four-foot logs. The hearth was then ready for the collier to apply a series of step-by-step charcoal-making skills learned and mastered in a seven-year apprenticeship.

Thurmont, Maryland · United States