A Tale of Two Trowels: Industrial Archaeology of West Point Foundry (ISHF)

From its beginnings in 1817 through well past the Civil War, the West Point Foundry (WPF) of Cold Spring, New York stood out as a pioneer of heavy American industry. Capable of casting ordnance, mill parts, engines, and other durable goods that only a few peers could match, it set the bar for American capital iron production in the early nineteenth century. Facilitated by the federal need to produce U.S. Navy cannon right after the War of 1812, the foundry’s deft leadership knew that the federal support would ensure a baseline of production, and their surplus capacity could capture these numerous high-demand markets in this young country. Supported by a highly skilled workforce, the WPF gained a reputation for producing not only large quantities of cannon year after year but also a wide range of other products and its success lead to its steady expansion in a narrow valley that offered ample water power and the nearby Hudson River for waterborne transport. Declining after the Civil War and finally shuttering in 1911, years of salvage and decay let nature taking root amongst its ruins, but interest in the site reappeared when Scenic Hudson Land Trust purchased the property in 1996. Eight years of intensive archaeological investigations by Michigan Technological University followed from 2001 to 2008 paved the path for Scenic Hudson to develop the site into a passive nature preserve with prominent industrial heritage features (!) that visitors can visit today and appreciate through interpretive kiosks and reconstructed features set in a wooded landscape.