Bog Iron

In the 1700s to its peak about 1850, the pine barrens had a considerable iron industry.Iron ore was collected from stream beds where it was scooped out in a slurry form.Furnaces dotted the pines where the ore was smelted,refined of impurities,and cast into many forms.Fortunes were made by the iron magnates,the industry supported hundreds of forge workers and their families, and the area thrived.Better grades of iron ore was discovered in other parts of the US around 1850 and onward,and the furnaces and forges of the pines went cold and silent,the workers moved on with their families,the towns and hamlets lost their reason for existing,leaving today only ruins and ghost towns.The sandy soil of the pines cannot support farming,and the major agricultural activity is the growing of cranberries in flooded bogs.