The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of McCalla in Tuscaloosa County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. 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 ...

as Tannehill Furnace, it was a major supplier of iron for Confederate ordnance. Remains of the old furnaces are located south of Bessemer off

Interstate 59 Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway located in the southeastern United States. It is a north–south route that spans from a junction with I-10 and I-12 at Slidell, Louisiana, to a junction with I-24 near Wildwood, Georgia ...

/ Interstate 20 near the southern end of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The park includes: the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill; the May Plantation Cotton Gin House; and the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama.

History

Ironmaking at the site began with construction of a

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 ...

forge by Daniel Hillman Sr. in 1830. Built by noted southern ironmaster Moses Stroup from 1859 to 1862, the three charcoal blast furnaces at Tannehill could produce 22 tons of pig iron a day, most of which was shipped to the Naval Gun Works and Arsenal at Selma. Furnaces Nos. 2 and 3 were equipped with hot blast stoves and a steam engine. Brown iron ore mines were present two miles (3 km) distant. The Tannehill furnaces and its adjacent

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, where kettles and hollow-ware were cast for southern troops, were attacked and burnt by three companies of the U.S. 8th Iowa Cavalry on March 31, 1865 during Wilson's Raid. The ruins remain today as one of the best preserved 19th-century iron furnace sites in the South. Also known as the Roupes Valley Iron Company, these works had significant influence on the later development of the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

iron and steel industry. An experiment conducted at Tannehill in 1862 proved red iron ore could successfully be used in Alabama blast furnaces. The test, promoted by South & North Railroad developers, led to the location of government-financed ironworks in the immediate Birmingham area (Jefferson County). ;Listings The furnace remains and its reconstructed portions were named an American Society for Metals historical landmark in 1994. The park is an American Battlefield Trust Heritage Site, a stop on the Alabama Appalachian Highlands Birding Trail, and was listed among the top 10 Alabama parks and nature areas visited in 2016.

References

External links

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park
Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission * * {{authority control Industrial buildings completed in 1862 State parks of Alabama Ironworks and steel mills in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Alabama in the American Civil War Protected areas of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Protected areas established in 1969 1969 establishments in Alabama Mountain biking venues in Alabama Museums in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Wilson's Raid Industry museums in Alabama History museums in Alabama Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Blast furnaces in the United States 1862 establishments in Alabama Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places

History

See also

References

External links