Furnace Town

Nestled away in the Pocomoke Forest, the ruins of a community from the early 19th century and the furnace to match lie far from the radar of most tourists.

Furnace Town was established in the mid 1800s by the Maryland Iron Company and counted around 300 permanent residents, all tasked with the preservation and operation of the Nassawango Iron Furnace. At its peak, between 1828 and 1850, the Furnace produced around 700 tons of iron per year - bog ore from the Nassawango swamp would be thrown into the Furnace from the top and heated to 3000 degrees Farenheit and the resulting iron would be transported to New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The community in Furnace Town flourished, complete with a school for children, a church, and blooming front yards, but in 1850, the Maryland Iron Company went bankrupt and the town was disbanded.

The Furnace and 7000 surrounding acres went up for sale, along with the saw and the grist mill, the iron master's mansion, stores, barns, homes, tools, 21,000 bushels of charcoal and 1,650 tons of ore. 

The town was restored in the 1960's to a museum and opened in 1982. The houses, barns and kilns have been restored and live actors play the townspeople. There are annual archeological digs for remnants of the communities' past.

The Furnace is recognized as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and is registered with National Register of Historic Places.