Catoctin Furnace

On the eve of the American Revolution, the Johnson brothers founded Catoctin Furnace near present-day Thurmont. Catoctin iron was turned into bombshells used against the British at the Battle of Yorktown. After the colonies won their independence, business boomed for the ironworks. The labor of African slaves and European immigrants produced household goods, tools and stoves for the young country. A small iron-making village evolved around the industry, and though the furnace closed in 1903, its