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The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of McCalla in
Tuscaloosa County Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region. The county's population was 227,036 as of the 2020 ...
,
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as Tannehill Furnace, it was a major supplier of iron for Confederate ordnance. Remains of the old furnaces are located south of Bessemer off
Interstate 59 Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway located in the southeastern United States. It is a north–south route that spans from a junction with I-10 and I-12 at Slidell, Louisiana, to a junction with I-24 near Wildwood, Georgia. ...
/ Interstate 20 near the southern end of the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
. The park includes: the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill; the May Plantation Cotton Gin House; and the
Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama The Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama, also known as the Tannehill Museum, is an industrial museum that demonstrates iron production in the nineteenth-century Alabama located at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park in McCalla, Tuscaloosa Coun ...
.


History

Ironmaking at the site began with construction of a bloomery forge by Daniel Hillman Sr. in 1830. Built by noted southern ironmaster Moses Stroup from 1859 to 1862, the three charcoal blast furnaces at Tannehill could produce 22 tons of pig iron a day, most of which was shipped to the Naval Gun Works and Arsenal at
Selma Selma may refer to: Places *Selma, Algeria *Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada *Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons United States: *Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches *Selma, Arkansas *Selma, Cali ...
. Furnaces Nos. 2 and 3 were equipped with hot blast stoves and a steam engine. Brown iron ore mines were present two miles (3 km) distant. The Tannehill furnaces and its adjacent
foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
, where kettles and hollow-ware were cast for southern troops, were attacked and burnt by three companies of the U.S. 8th Iowa Cavalry on March 31, 1865 during Wilson's Raid. The ruins remain today as one of the best preserved 19th-century iron furnace sites in the South. Also known as the Roupes Valley Iron Company, these works had significant influence on the later development of the
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
iron and steel industry. An experiment conducted at Tannehill in 1862 proved red iron ore could successfully be used in Alabama blast furnaces. The test, promoted by South & North Railroad developers, led to the location of government-financed ironworks in the immediate Birmingham area (Jefferson County). ;Listings The furnace remains and its reconstructed portions were named an American Society for Metals historical landmark in 1994. The park is an American Battlefield Trust Heritage Site, a stop on the Alabama Appalachian Highlands Birding Trail, and was listed among the top 10 Alabama parks and nature areas visited in 2016.


See also

*
Birmingham District The Birmingham District is a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama, where the raw materials for making steel, limestone, iron ore, and coal are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and ...
*
Brierfield Furnace The Brierfield Furnace, also known as the Bibb Naval Furnace and Brierfield Ironworks, is a historic district in Brierfield, Alabama, encompassed by Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park. The district covers and includes one building and nine ...
* Shelby Ironworks


References


External links


Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park
Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission * * {{authority control Industrial buildings completed in 1862 State parks of Alabama Ironworks and steel mills in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Alabama in the American Civil War Protected areas of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Mountain biking venues in Alabama Museums in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Wilson's Raid Industry museums in Alabama History museums in Alabama Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Blast furnaces in the United States 1862 establishments in Alabama Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places