Right off Route 1 in Saugus is a national historic site called the Saugus Ironworks.
The first iron smelt in all the western hemisphere happened in Saugus, Massachusetts. The colonists saw that they needed an independent source of steel, so they set about constructing their own mill, complete with a massive stone furnace to smelt iron ore into workable metal.
Two massive bellows heated the furnace to thousands of degrees by pumping oxygen into the belly of the furnace. And they were driven by a water wheel!
Iron smelting is an amazing craft. While the colonists built a huge, mechanically driven operation with a blast furnace, iron can be created with less. Villages in West Africa have maintained the knowledge of the ancient techniques. In this documentary, they construct a clay bloomery and heat a chunk of iron to form an iron hoe.
I’m floored by this place. I intend to return soon.