Old Forge Farm, also known as Zane's Furnace, Stephens Fort, and Marlboro Iron Works, is a historic home and farm located near Middletown,

Frederick County, Virginia Frederick County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 91,419. Its county seat is Winchester. The county was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. It is Virginia's nor ...

. The original section dates to the 18th century. The house is a two-story, asymmetrical, three-bay,

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

dwelling with a two-story addition connecting the main house to a one-story former summer kitchen. Also on the property are the contributing 18th century hexagonal ice house of unusual design, an early 20th-century root cellar, privy, and shed. The property was first known as Stephen's Fort, built by Lewis Stephens, son of Peter Stephens, for protection during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. Sold in 1767 to Isaac Zane, whose Zane's Furnace (Marlboro Iron Works) was a major manufacturer of munitions for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

Grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

operations continued into the 1950s. an
''Accompanying three photo''
/ref> It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2004.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses in Frederick County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Frederick County, Virginia {{FrederickCountyVA-NRHP-stub