Bellona Arsenal was a 19th-century

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post in

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is a County (United States), county located just south of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north an ...

, above the

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of the

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west of

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. Ruins of a powder magazine and other buildings are still standing. The site is listed on the

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History

U.S. attorney-general William Wirt and U.S. Army

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

John Clarke established the Bellona Foundry on the south shore of the James River, 14 miles west of

, in 1810. The Foundry manufactured weaponry for the

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. The name "Bellona" comes from the name of an ancient Roman goddess of war. Maj. Clarke arranged for the location of a federal arsenal immediately to the west of Bellona Foundry. The Army erected Bellona Arsenal in 1816. It began storing cannon from the Foundry in 1817.

Antebellum years

Bellona Foundry supplied much ordnance to the Army and Navy of the United States throughout the antebellum period. The Arsenal repaired small arms and engaged in a few other functions until 1832; thereafter, it only received and stored cannon. The Army removed the garrison to

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. It is currently managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth o ...

in 1833 but left a single ordnance sergeant as a caretaker. In 1837 the War Department declared disused Bellona Arsenal surplus. Thomas Randolph and a partner leased several buildings for a silkworm farm. Maj. Clarke died in 1844, and supervision of Bellona Foundry passed to Dr. Junius L. Archer, who leased a residence from the Arsenal complex. In 1856 Dr. Archer purchased Bellona Arsenal from the federal government for $2650. Bellona Arsenal, nearby

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, and three facilities in other states cast heavy cannon immediately before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

American Civil War

Bellona Arsenal and the somewhat larger

manufactured cannons and similar armaments for the Confederate military. Dr. Archer leased both Arsenal and Foundry to the Confederate States and retained a job as superintendent of the complex. Bellona ranked second as a producer of Confederate armaments.

Closure

The owners tore down the barracks, quarters for officers, and one workshop in 1872; only three workshops of the original eight quadrangle buildings (and the powder magazine) survived at the old Bellona Arsenal. They sold the arsenal property in 1877. The property changed hands several times; in 1942, Mr. Merle C. Luck purchased the surviving buildings and began to renovate them. He later converted them into residences.

Physical description

Bellona Foundry and Bellona Arsenal consisted of several buildings built over a short time span. Stone walls enclosed eight buildings surrounding the quadrangle at the Arsenal. These included a three-story main arsenal building at the north end with a projecting pavilion and circular third-story windows, two quarters for officers flanking the arsenal, four workshops on the east and west sides of the quadrangle, and a three-story barracks building on the south end. The similar brick workshop buildings lack foundations, and each have two stories with hipped roofs and interior end chimneys. Two smaller workshops contain three bays each with central entrances and segmental arched openings. The larger workshop building has a five-bay facade. The low rectangular powder magazine with walls five and a half feet thick stood to the west of the quadrangle buildings. A stone wall surrounding the magazine protected the quadrangle buildings against possible explosion. The powder magazine has survived to the present but has no roof.

Legacy

The arsenal and foundry are the namesake of "Old Gun Road" in the Robious area of Chesterfield County. On 6 May 1971, Bellona Arsenal was added to the

. It is located near

Midlothian, Virginia Midlothian ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated area and census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of t ...

, off State Route 673 northwest of its junction with VA 147.

References

Description in National Register of Historic Places

External links

Bellona Arsenal, Workshops, State Route 673 vicinity, Richmond, Independent City, VA
at the

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(HABS) {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Buildings and structures in Chesterfield County, Virginia Ironworks in Virginia Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Chesterfield County, Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Brick buildings and structures in Virginia