Principio Furnace and village is in

Cecil County, Maryland Cecil County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The ...

, 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Havre de Grace. The Principio Iron Works were started here in 1719 by Joseph Farmer with British capital and an ironmaster, John England. By the 1740s, it had become one of the most successful colonial ironworks, producing

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

for sale in London. Later, Thomas Russell, Jr., England's successor, produced cannonballs for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The works were part of the (larger) Principio Company, whose other holdings included the Accokeek or Potomac Ironworks on the land of George Washington's father, Augustine Washington (north of

Ferry Farm Ferry Farm, also known as the George Washington Boyhood Home Site or the Ferry Farm Site, is the farm and home where George Washington spent much of his childhood. The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia, along the northern bank of the ...

near

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond, Virginia, R ...

). This works was originally developed by the ironmaster England as a source of iron ore. As early as 1726, it may have included a cold blast charcoal furnace. Accokeek/Potomac served as the headquarters of the Principio Company until it was closed in the mid-1750s. The Maryland works were burnt by British forces in 1813. In 1836, the site and its ruined buildings were purchased by Joseph Whitaker, his brothers George P. Whitaker and Joseph Whitaker II, and partners Thomas Garrett (a prominent

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

) and William Chandler. The site still had water power; more importantly, it was crossed by the freshly laid tracks of the

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad, headquartered in Philadelphia, that operated in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland from 1836 to 1902. It was part of an 1838 merger of four state-chartered railr ...

. Chandler was a director of the company. The investors rebuilt the iron works and resumed production, opening a new blast furnace in 1837 and other improvements over the decades. Before the Civil War, the Whitakers divided their holdings geographically, with Joseph receiving the Pennsylvania properties and George Price the Maryland and Virginia ones. George Price Whitaker and his descendants continued to be involved in the iron and steel business; their holdings became part of the Wheeling Steel Company in 1921, and eventually of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel.Historical Society of Cecil County, "Principio", Milt Diggins
The site produced iron until 1925. In 1972, Principio Furnace was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Part of the stone furnace still remains on the site.

Gallery

File:Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_E._H._Pickering,_Photographer_October_1936_-_Principio_Furnace,_Port_Road_(State_Route_7),_Perryville,_Cecil_County,_MD_HABS_MD,8-PRINF,1-1.tif, The old

bloomery A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called ...

, depicted in 1936 File:Principio Furnace (21415394958).jpg, The old bloomery during the preservation works of 2015 File:Principio_Furnace,_wide_(21415201900).jpg, Another view of the bloomery, during the works of 2015 File:Principio Furnace, outbuilding (21416308829).jpg, An outbuilding on the site of the Principio Furnace File:Principio Furnace, outbuildings (20980440884).jpg, Two more outbuildings on the site of the Principio Furnace File:Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer October 1936 OLD LITHOGRAPH - Principio Furnace, Port Road (State Route 7), Perryville, Cecil County, MD HABS MD,8-PRINF,1-3.tif, A lithograph scene of the activity at the furnace

References

*Gordon, Robert B. 1996 ''American Iron 1607-1900''. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. *May, Earl Chapin 1945 ''Principio to Wheeling: 1715-1945 A Pageant of Iron and Steel''. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London. *Robbins, Michael 1972 'The Principio Company: Iron-Making in Colonial Maryland, 1720-1781'. Unpublished paper. George Washington University, Washington. *Robbins, Michael 1986 ''The Principio Company : iron-making in colonial Maryland, 1720-1781''. Garland, New York *Whitely, William G. 1887 'The Principio Company. A Historical Sketch of the First Iron-Works in Maryland'. ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' XI:63-68, 190-198, 288-295. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

External links

*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust website * {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Buildings and structures in Cecil County, Maryland Ironworks and steel mills in Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland 1719 establishments in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Cecil County, Maryland Whitaker family (ironmaking)