Stewart County, Tennessee

Bear Spring Furnace

Joseph and Robert Woods and Thomas Yeatman built the first charcoal cold-blast furnace here in 1830. It used brown hematite ore from local deposits. Distroyed by Union forces in 1862, the present stack was built in 1873, with a railroad to Tennessee Ridge, on the route of the present day highway. Operations here were discontinued in 1901. Photo and information courtesy of Cheryl Adams.

Return to Stewart County Homepage.