In 1620-21 the Jamestown colonists established an iron furnace at Falling Creek—about eighty miles upriver from Jamestown. It was the first ironworks built in America by Englishmen, and the furnace was the first one (of which there is definite record) in which iron was smelted. The contemporary records also indicate that a few tools were made in the forge shop. The enterprise was short-lived, however, for in 1622 the Indians massacred the ironworkers and their families and destroyed the furnace. Although never rebuilt, its importance cannot be overstressed, for the Falling Creek site can rightfully claim the honor of being the birthplace of the American iron industry.
The Black-Smith.
The Black-Smith 1 in his Smithie (or Forge) 2 bloweth the fire with a pair of Bellows, 3 which he bloweth with his Feet, 4 and so heateth the Iron; And then he taketh it out with the Tongs 5 layeth it upon the Anvile, 6 and striketh it with a Hammer, 7 where the Sparks 8 flie off. And thus are hammered out Nails 9, Horshoos 10, Cart-strakes 11, Chains 12, Plates, Locks and Keys, Hindges, &c. He quencheth Hot-Irons in the Cool-trough.
Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.
A Seventeenth-Century Blacksmith At Work
A forge or smithery at Jamestown may have resembled the one in this 1685 engraving.
From Orbis Sensualium Pictus by Johann Comenius (London, 1685).