Photo by Sam Yu Bruce Champion, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, talks about the historic Catoctin Iron Furnace recently.

Its flame fizzled by 1903, however, when the 127-year-old foundry closed because it was no longer efficient.

Bruce Champion, a Frederick resident and secretary of the Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, visited the furnace and became curious about a historical marker at the site. The marker, dated from the 1930s, said the furnace had made munitions for the Revolutionary War.

Champion read through old documents and confirmed that the furnace had, indeed, made 10-inch cannonballs used during the siege of Yorktown, the final battle of the Revolution that led to the British surrender.

The local SAR chapter recognized the furnace's connection to the Revolutionary War with a plaque. Mounted on a rock brought down from the falls area of Cunningham Falls State Park, the plaque was dedicated in October.

Champion discovered Catoctin Furnace while visiting local historical sites. He and his wife are from New Jersey and retired to Worman's Mill in Frederick a few years ago. He joined the local SAR chapter, which has 100 members, making it the largest chapter in the state. He began working on the Catoctin Furnace recognition about a year ago.

Cunningham Falls and Catoctin Mountain Park exist because of the iron furnace, Cunningham Falls Park Ranger Andrew Vecchio said. The 10,000-acre area was preserved as a source of wood for the furnace.

"It was called the Mountain Tract," he said.

After the furnace closed, the area became parkland.

Only one of the three stacks used during the life of the Catoctin Furnace still stands. The stacks were named after women. Isabella, a steam-powered furnace built in 1856, is the sole survivor.

The iron furnace is across U.S. 15 from Cunningham Falls State Park and doesn't get as much visitor traffic as the two parks. It wasn't planned that way, Vecchio said. When the park was designed, U.S. 15 was a two-lane road. A walkway over U.S. 15 leads to the iron furnace, and that walk passes lots of slag, Champion said.

That slag is a reminder of the furnace's output. Catoctin Iron Furnace produced what was known as pig iron, from iron ore mined nearby. Pig iron was named from the shape of the wooden molds into which melted iron would flow. Foundry workers said the molds looked like a sow suckling a litter of piglets.

Pig iron was shaped into bar iron, which blacksmiths used to make cannonballs, tools to clear the wilderness, cooking utensils, stoves and later, wheels for rail cars. The furnace could have produced the iron used to make railroad tracks.

Wood from the surrounding forest fueled the fires to melt the iron ore.

The furnace was heated to 3,000 degrees and an acre of harvested wood was needed to heat the furnace for 24 hours. At one time, one of the furnace stacks churned out 9,000 tons of iron annually.

A community grew up around the furnace. James Johnson, brother of Thomas Johnson, Maryland's first governor, and his brothers started Catoctin Iron Furnace in 1776. A series of owners followed the Johnsons.

Some of the 80 houses the workers lived in stand today. The houses made up the village of Catoctin Furnace, which was home to a saw mill, grist mill, company store and church. The church, known as Harriet Chapel after the wife of an owner, stands today. Episcopal services are held there every Sunday.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, slaves and Hessian prisoners made up much of the work force. Later, immigrants began working at the furnace. The work was hot and dirty.

The furnace is an important piece of American history, Champion said. "This was a great vehicle for (the SAR) to do something.

"The timing was right, and I got it done."