Monday, December 29, 2008
Revealed! You never know what you might find ! This is Catherine furnace, one of many iron ore furnaces in Virginia. The first time I saw a furnace I thought it was a Mayan temple. The stone work on the furnaces is incredible and looking closer you can see the way each and every stone contributes to the strenght of the building.

The forest service capped this furnace so freezing and thawing wouldn't erode the structure.

I loved the lichens that had overrun the darker corners. When I happened to look up at the iron supporting beam, I was suprised.
There , long ago when the beam was cast in sand, someone had put their handprint in the sand before the pig iron was poured. It remains there today, a silent reminder.