Principio Furnace - Perryville MD - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

TEXT from Maryland Historical Marker:

"The Principio Company-A leading iron producer during the Colonial period, Principio held Maryland’s first blast furnace, operating 1725, and first refinery forge, constructed 1728. After the American Revolution, Principio made cannons and other ordnance until the British destroyed the complex in a raid during the War of 1812. The Whitaker Family revived the operation in 1837, and Principio remained an active iron manufacturing site for much of the nineteenth century."

From the Wikipedia website:
"Principio Furnace and village is in Cecil County, Maryland, 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Havre de Grace, MD.

The Principio Iron Works were started here in 1719 by Joseph Farmer with British capital and an ironmaster, John England, who made it one of the most successful in the colonial ironworks by the 1740s, producing pig iron for sale in London. Thomas Russell, Jr., England's successor, produced cannonballs for the Continental Army during the Revolution.

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 near Fredericksburg, Virginia). This works was developed by the ironmaster England originally 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 sometime in the mid-1750s.

The Maryland works were destroyed by the British in 1813.

In 1836, the site and its ruined buildings were purchased by Joseph Whitaker, his brothers George Price Whitaker and Joseph Whitaker II, and partners Thomas Garrett (a prominent abolitionist) 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. (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.


A scene of the activity at the furnace, published by a lithographer from Philadelphia, shows two chimneys and wooden railings around their base level atop the two-story bloomery. Two insets depict the open-pit mines where workers load carts with ore.
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.

The site produced iron until 1925. Part of the stone furnace still remains on the site. In 1972, Principio Furnace was listed on the National Register of Historic Places."

Street address: Principio Furnace Road (Maryland Route 7) Perryville, MD USA 21903 County / Borough / Parish: Cecil County Year listed: 1972 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Information Potential Periods of significance: 1875-1899, 1850-1874, 1825-1849, 1800-1824, 1750-1799, 1700-1749 Historic function: Domestic,Government,Industry/Processing/Extraction Current function: Vacant/Not In Use Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/21/2021 Don.Morfe visited it 08/27/2021 bluesnote visited it

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