Case Study
Falling Creek Ironworks
An Early 17th century industrial site, Chesterfield
County, Virginia
During the years 1619 to 1622, the Virginia Company
attempted to establish an ironworking facility on Falling Creek,
in Chesterfield County, Virginia, now on the outskirts of the
city of Richmond. The Falling Creek Ironworks were the first iron
production facility in North America. The ironworks were to produce
iron from local ore deposits. According to Virginia Company records,
the ironworks was able to produce some quantity of iron, although
it is not clear whether it had begun full production. In 1622,
war with the Powhatan Confederacy of tribes put the operation
of the Falling Creek Ironworks to an abrupt end. An attack by
Native American forces left the all but two colonists at the Ironworks
dead, and the facilities destroyed
Previous archaeological investigations had identified
a terrace located at the foot of the lower falls of Falling Creek
as the site of the 1619-1622 ironworks, but conventional archaeological
testing during the course of these investigations found no conclusive
evidence of structures or domestic areas.
Electrical resistivity, magnetic field gradient,
and ground penetrating radar surveys were conducted over the site
of the 17th Century ironworks to locate features prior to subsurfce
testing. Linear and rectangular anomalies that appear in the resistivity
data may be caused by architectural features, possibly shops or
domestic structures associated with the ironworks. Several low-amplitude
magnetic anomalies that appear in the data appear to be cultural
in origin, and may be caused by features associated with the ironworks.
A number of high-amplitude magnetic anomalies appear in the magnetic
field gradient data that are thought to be associated with iron
production, including extensive slag deposits and the possible
location of the blast furnace. Ground penetrating radar data shows
an anomalous reflection in the vicinity of the suspected blast
furnace, which is partially beneath the modern roadway.
The geophysical investigation was
performed by Archaeo-Physics LLC. Archaeological investigations
at the Falling Creek Ironworks are under the direction of Lyle
E. Browning, Browning and Associates, Ltd working through the
Chesterfield County Department of Parks & Recreation. The
project was sponsored by the Falling Creek Development Committee,
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Reference:
Jones, Geoffrey. 2001. A Geophysical
Investigation at the Falling Creek Ironworks, an Early Industrial
Site in Virginia. Archaeological
Prospection, 8, 247-256
