Iron Furnace Overlook

At Falling Creek stood the first iron furnace established in the New World, begun in 1619 and completed in 1622 after iron ore from James River outcrops had already been extracted by 1608 and shipped to England. Backed by the Virginia Company of London, the ironworks were intended to expand trade, use the region's natural resources, establish the first system of private land ownership, and become the first works in the Western Hemisphere to smelt iron ore into pig iron, marking the beginning of American heavy industry. The site was chosen for its abundant water and a 10-foot-high head of water. In 1619, Captain Benjamin Bluett led an expedition of 150 men to establish a full-scale iron smelting works, but he died soon after arrival and many workers also died in the harsh conditions. In 1621, a second expedition under iron-master John Berkeley, joined by his son Maurice and 22 workers including an apothecary, was sent to finish the ironworks and begin production, and Berkeley expected a plentiful iron supply by June 1622. Instead, on March 22, 1622, Chief Opechancanough of the Powhatan Nation launched a coordinated attack on European settlements along the James River that killed every worker at Falling Creek, destroyed the machinery, and left the works in ruins. In 1750, Archibald Cary established the Chesterfield Forge on the same site to make bar iron from pig iron; it later closed, reopened for the Revolutionary War, and was destroyed by Benedict Arnold in 1781.

Bensley, Virginia · United States