Near Leetonia, Ohio, Cherry Valley preserves the remains of a major 19th-century coke-making operation that grew alongside the region’s iron industry and the rise of a company town. Built around 1866 after William Lee developed local coal, ore, and lime resources, the works used beehive ovens to turn coal into coke for iron smelting. Reorganized in 1873 as the Cherry Valley Iron and Coal Company, the site expanded to more than 200 ovens and four blast furnaces before decline and closure during the Great Depression. Now preserved as a park, it is valued as one of North America’s largest surviving groups of intact beehive coke ovens outside Pennsylvania’s Connellsville district.

Photo: Wikipedia

Washingtonville, Ohio · USA