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Arnold N. Nawrocki

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Pennsylvania, Clearfield County, Curwensville
While working for the Clearfield Cheese Co. on nearby Meadow St., he invented the first commercially successful process for individually wrapped cheese slices. A patent was issued in 1956. An engineer, Nawrocki secured eleven food processing patents over his career.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Chinklacamoose

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Pennsylvania, Clearfield County, near Clearfield
Name of the Indian village located here, and visited by C.F. Post while traveling to an Indian council at Kuskuski in 1758. The later Clearfield is said to get its name from clearings made by grazing bison along nearby creeks.

(Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Two hundred years and counting

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New Brunswick, Charlotte County, St. Andrews
English on left

Against the odds
Many blockhouses were built in North America, but few have survived. Why is this one still here? Throughout the 19th century the St. Andrews Blockhouse was used for storage and occasionally as a barracks by the militia. In the 1860s, during a brief period of tension with the United States, it again became an important component of civic defenses, but its military role declined soon after.

Part of who we are
By the late 1800s, St. Andrews has become a popular summer resort. This blockhouse, once known as the West Point Blockhouse, was converted into a residence, and a public tea room opened nearby. The other two blockhouses (East Blockhouse and Joe’s Point Blockhouse) were demolished. Over the years, this building has become a prominent symbol of St. Andrews. St. Andrews Blockhouse has been a national historic site since 1962.

Close call
In August 1993, the blockhouse was seriously damaged by fire. The people of St. Andrews and Parks Canada worked together to restore the blockhouse and ensure its place in the future of the town and the county.

French on right

Contre toute attente
De nombreux blockhaus virent le jour en Amérique du Nord, mais seuls quelque-uns survécurent. Pourquoi celui-ci est-il encore debout? Le blockhaus de St. Andrews fut utilisé comme entrepôt tout au long du 19ᵉ siècle et comme caserne pour le milice de manière occasionnelle. Dans les années 1869, au cours d’une brève période de tensions avec les États-Unis, il fit à nouveau partie intégrante du complexe de défense du village, mais son rôle militaire diminua peu après.

Indissociable de notre identité
À la fin du 19ᵉ siècle, St. Andrews était devenu un centre de villégiature très couru en été. Cet ouvrage de fortification, autrefois appelé blockhaus de la point ouest, fut converti en une résidence, et un salon de thé ouvrit ses portes à proximité. Les deux autres blockhaus (celui de la pointe est et celui de la pointe Joes) furent démolis. Au fil des ans, le bâtiment devint un important symbole de St. Andrews. Le blockhaus de St. Andrews fut classé lieu historique national en 1962.

Evite de justesse
En août 1993, le blockhaus fut gravement endommagé par un incendie. Les citoyens de St. Andrew et Parcs Canada travaillèrent ensemble à le restaurer et à lui garantir une place dans l’avenir de la ville et du pays.

(Forts, Castles • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Karthaus Furnace

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Pennsylvania, Clearfield County, Karthaus
Near here stood the iron furnace erected 1817 by Peter Karthaus. Rebuilt 1836 by Peter Ritner and John Say, it became in 1839 one of the earliest to use coke in place of charcoal. Abandoned at the end of the same year.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

War of 1812: Defending St. Andrews

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New Brunswick, Charlotte County, St. Andrews
English on left

No hard feelings
Have a look across the St. Croix River to the land on the other side of Navy Island; that’s the United States you can see! When the War of 1812 broke out, the citizen of St. Andrews had little to fear from their neighbors in Maine. Not everyone in New England was in favor of the war: trade with Atlantic Canada was brisk and around here the main threat to security was from privateering, not invasion. Despite the conflict, resolutions were passed on both sides of the border declaring a local truce, although in 1814 the British in Halifax invaded Northern Maine, which they occupied until 1818.

The privateering menace
In the early 1800’s, St. Andrews was a prosperous garrison town with a busy commercial seaport. Licensed American privateers would undoubtedly be drawn to the ships for their valuable cargoes or loot homes and businesses. During the American Revolution, privateers attacked and robbed every port in the Maritimes except for Halifax.
Three gun batteries were quickly erected and three blockhouses - including this one - were added soon after to defend them. From inside, soldiers armed with muskets and a small cannon could defend the batteries and help protect shipping along the river and harbour. These 18-pounder guns - so called because the shot they fired weighed 18 pounds - could fire as far as Navy Island. The defenses worked. Although privateers captured many ships at sea, they never attached St. Andrews.

Privateering: a two-way street
Privateering was a common wartime practice until the mid-1800s. In wartime, governments licensed private businesses and ships to seize enemy vessels and cargoes as “prizes.” These (for the most part) completely legal raids by American and British privateers were frequent along the east coast during the War of 1812.

French on right

Sans rancune
Jetez un coup d’oeil de l’autre côté de la rivière Ste. Croix, au-delà de l’ile Navy: ce sont les États-Unis que vous voyez! Lorsque la guerre de 1812 éclata, les citoyens de St. Andrews avaient peu à craindre de leurs voisins du Maine. Les citoyens de la Nouvelle Angleterre n’étaient pas tous favorables à la guerre: le commerce avec la région de l'Atlantique était florissant, et la population redoutait devante les corsaires qu’un éventuel envahisseur. Malgré les hostilities, des résolutions furent adoptées de part et d’autre de la frontière pour déclarer un trêve à l’échelle locale, même si, en 1814, les Britanniques d’Halifax envahirent le Nord du Maine, qu’ils occupèrent jusqu’un 1818.

Le menace des corsaires
Au début du 19ᵉ siècle, St. Andrews était un village de garnison prospère, et son port de mer commercial fourmillait d’activité. Il ne faisait aucun doute que les corsaires sanctionnés par le gouvernement américain chercheraient à saisir la précieuse cargaison des navires ou a piller les demeures et les entreprises. Pendant la guerre de l’Indépendance, les corsaires avaient attaqué et pillé tous les ports de Maritimes, sauf celui d’Halifax.
Trois batteries de tir furent érigées à la hâte, et trois blockhaus - dont celui-ici - furent construits peu après en guise de protection. De l’intérieur, les soldats armés de fusils et d’un petit canon pouvaient défendre les batteries et contribuer a protéger les navires marchands qui circulaient sur la rivière dans le port. Le canon de 18 livres - appelé ainsi parce que le boulet pesait 18 livres - pouvait atteindre des cibles aussi éloignées que l’ile Navy. Les ouvrages de défense produisirent les résultats souhaites. Les corsaires capturèrent de nombreux navires en mer, mais jamais ils n’attaquèrent St. Andrews.

Les guerres de course, profitables aux deux camps.
La course demeura une pratique courante en temps de guerre jusqu’au milieu du 19ᵉ siècle. En période de conflict, les gouvernement autorisaient des entreprises privées et des navires à s’emparer de cargaisons et des navires ennemis comme «butin». Pratiqués en toutes légalité (la plupart et temps) par les corsaires américains et britanniques, ces raids étaient fréquents le long de le côte Est pendant la guerre 1812.

(Forts, Castles • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Menasha Lock

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Wisconsin, Winnebago County, Menasha

Size: 144’ x 35’
Lift: 9.7’
Construction: Concrete walls and steel gates
Built 1852. Rehabilitated 1937. Rebuilt 1978-1979.
Filling Time: About 4 min. Emptying Time: About 4 min.

Since its completion in 1856, the Fox River navigation system has had four different owners. The system was built by the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company, but that company went bankrupt in 1866. It later reformed as the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company, which sold the locks to the United States Government in 1872.

The federal government put the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in charge of the locks. The Corps surveyed the river’s condition and began repairing or rebuilding the locks. By 1910 workers had rebuilt or repaired most of the locks on the Lower Fox River. The Corps continued maintaining the locks and dredged the canals to keep navigation on the river safe.

Commercial traffic on the Lower Fox River ended by the late 1950s. Recreational traffic increased for some years, but maintaining the locks for this purpose was not a priority for the federal government. After the 1987 season, the Corps closed all but three of the Lower Fox locks. The Menasha lock remained open through the 1980s and 90s. As the gateway to Lake Winnebago, it is heavily used by recreational boaters.

Many people advocated for reopening all the locks. They valued the historical importance of the entire Fox River lock system and believed it could again generate economic activity in the area. In September 2004 the State of Wisconsin assumed ownership and created the Fox River Navigational System Authority. Work began in 2006 to bring all seventeen locks back into service once again.

Settlers completed a lock at Neenah before the Menasha lock was finished. However, the route through Menasha was the “official” state channel, and the Neenah lock fell into disrepair and was abandoned by 1866.

(Man-Made Features • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 10 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Blockhouse 101

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New Brunswick, Charlotte County, St. Andrews
English on left

What kind of house?
A blockhouse is a modest fortified building with a distinctive overhanging upper level. In 18th- and 19th-century North America, both Britain and the United States built many blockhouses for defence purposes. They were usually constructed of local material such as wood and could be put up relatively quickly and cheaply. This blockhouse is one of three built in St. Andrews to defend the batteries of guns that protected the harbour and river, primarily from enemy privateers.

French on right

De quel genre de construction s’agit-il?
Le blockhaus est un modeste ouvrage fortifie qui se reconnait lacilement a son etage en surplomb. Dan l’Amérique du Nord des 18 et 19 siècles, la Grand Bretagne et les Etats-Unis construisirent de nombreux pour defendre leur territoire. Ces ouvrages étaient généralement faits de matériaux locaux, tels que la bois, et pouvaient être eriges assez rapidement et a relativement peu de frais. St. Andrews construisit trois blockhaus incluant celui-ci, pour défendre les batteries de tir qui protégeaient le port et la rivière, principalement contre les corsaires ennemis.

Sidebar on right; English on top, French on the bottom

The 104th Regiment
Among the military units stationed at the blockhouse were members of the 104th Regiment of Foot, or New Brunswick Regiment. The 104th are still remembered for their march from Fredericton, New Brunswick to Kingston, Ontario, to reinforce the troops there - a trek in severe winter conditions which began in mid-February 1813 and lasted 52 days!. The 104th then took part in several battles to repel American incursions into Ontario.

Le 104ᵉ Régiment Le blockhaus était notamment tenu par les membres du 104ᵉ Régiment de fantassins, également appelé New Brunswick Regiment. Le militaires du 104ᵉ devinrent célèbres pour la march qu-ils entreprirent de Fredericton, au Nouveau Brunswick, à Kingston, en Ontario, oú ils avaient été appelés en renfort - une expédition qui débuta à la mi-fêvrier 1813 dans des conditions hivernales sévères et qui dura 52 jours! Le 104 pit ensuite par à plusieurs batailles pour repousser des incursions américaines en Ontario.

(Forts, Castles • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

In Memory of the Men of the Town of Wheatfield

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New York, Niagara County, Wheatfield
In memory of the men of the Town of Wheatfield who died in the World Wars 1917 * 1918 1941 * 1945 Korean War 1950 * 1953 Vietnam War 1964 * 1973

(War, Korean • War, Vietnam • War, World I • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Otway Burns Monument

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North Carolina, Yancey County, Burnsville
Otway Burns,
born in Onslow County
N.C. 1775.
Died at Portsmouth
N.C. 1850.
Sailor-Soldier-
Statesmen.

North Carolina's foremost son
in the War of 1812-15.

For him, this town is named.

He guarded well our seas,
let our mountains honor him.

(Politics • Settlements & Settlers • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Abtsküche / Abbot's Kitchen

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Germany, Baden-Württemberg, Tübingen District, Bebenhausen


Anstelle der abgetragenen Krankenkapelle 1507 errichteter ebenerdiger Bau.
1885 durch Aufstockung dem Neuen Bau angepaßt und als Appartement für König Karl eingerichtet, später bis 1946 Wohnung von Königin Charlotte.
1915/17 Erdgeschoß durch Eugen Wörner zum Grünen Saal umgebaut.
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Instead of the ablated hospital chapel, erected in 1507 at ground level construction.
1885 adapted to the New Construction above and set up as an apartment for King Karl, later, to 1946, the apartment of Queen Charlotte.
1915/17 ground floor converted to the Green Hall by Eugen Wörner.

(Forts, Castles • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad

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Texas, Harris County, Houston
Building of a railroad from here to the Brazos, to handle commerce of rich plantations, was attempted unsuccessfully in 1840-41 by early merchant Andrew Briscoe and the Harrises who founded Harrisburg. Their holdings, including Harrisburg townsite, were sold in 1847 to a group of bostonians and Texans—headed by San Jacinto hero Gen. Sidney Sherman—who succeeded in building the first railroad in Texas.

The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railway was chartered Feb. 11, 1850. Construction materials, shipped from Boston to Galveston, came up Buffalo Bayou by barges. Chief engineer John A. Williams began survey in May 1851. When a few miles of track were laid, the first passengers ever to ride a train in Texas went to Thomas Point (3 mi. W), April 21, 1853, to a celebration featuring salutes from "Twin Sisters" cannon used in 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. Four months later tracks reached Stafford's Point, and B. B. B. & C. operations officially began, with Harrisburg as the terminal.

One block north of here were depot, roundhouse and docks; a half block south, site of 1836 Texas Capitol.

The road was sold in 1870, and name was changed to Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio. It eventually became part of the Southern Pacific system.

(Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Tonawanda Civil War Memorial

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New York, Erie County, Tonawanda
In memory of
Soldiers Sailors
& Marines
of the Civil War
of 1861 to 1865

(Civil Rights • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Sommerrefektorium / Summer Refectory

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Germany, Baden-Württemberg, Tübingen District, Bebenhausen


Um 1335 unter Abt Konrad von Lustnau über romanischem Vorgängerbau als zweischiffiger Speisesaal der Mönche mit drei Achteckstützen und Sterngewölbe erbaut.

1410 Dachreiter auf dem Südgiebel als Glockentürmchen. Raumfassung mit Glasfenstern, Gewölbemalereien, Vertäfelung und Fliesenboden im 19. Jahrhundert in Anlehnung an vorhandene Reste erneuert.
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Built around 1335 under Abbot Conrad of Lustnau on a two-aisled Romanesque predecessor as a monastery dining room with three octagonal supports and star vaults.

1410 Bell tower addition to the south gable roof. Spacially balanced with glass windows, vault paintings, paneling and tiled flooring in the 19th century. Renovated in accordance with existing remnants.

(Churches, Etc. • Forts, Castles • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Cranberry Iron Mine

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North Carolina, Avery County, Elk Park
During the Civil War, natural resources such as salt, lead, and iron were highly prized commodities in the Confederacy. The government relied especially on small rural ironworks to manufacture cannons, swords, and firearms. Ruben White first mined iron ore in this area in the 1780s. By 1860, the Cranberry Iron Corporation operated a bloomer forge on Cranberry Creek. Jordan C. Hardin ran the mine, and his father, John Hardin, was the local postmaster. In a bloomer, burning charcoal melted the iron from the ore. Workers used an iron bar to stir and gather the resulting mass, which was carried to the forge and hammered to drive out impurities, and then further hammered into flat bars of iron.

Forty to sixty men were employed at Cranberry during the war, mining ore and forging iron for the Confederacy. Once a month, the bar iron was loaded in a wagon, and Peter Hardin, a local slave, drove the wagon down the mountain to Camp Vance, near Morganton. There, the iron was loaded on a train and transported to foundries throughout the South that produced munitions for the war effort.

Following the war, the Cranberry mine property changed hands several times. Former Confederate Gen. Robert F. Hoke owned the operations for several years, and he and his associates incorporated the Cranberry Iron and Coal Company in 1873. The mine was worked sporadically through the first half of the twentieth century.

(captions)
(lower left) Bloomery forge, Frederick Overmann, The Manufacture of Iron (1850)
(upper right) Gen. Robert F. Hoke Courtesy Library of Congress; Jordan C. Hardin Courtesy Mike Hardin

Major funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century.

(Industry & Commerce • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Woman of War

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North Carolina, Avery County, near Linville
Sarah Malinda Blalock and her husband, William McKesson “Keith” Blalock, lived in Coffey’s Gap on the Watauga and Caldwell County line in 1860. Keith Blalock was an avowed Unionist, but with the passage of the first Confederate conscription act imminent, he enlisted in the 26th North Carolina Infantry on March 20, 1862. He hoped to get close enough to the Union lines to desert. Malinda Blalock enlisted in the same day, concealing her identity as a woman and passing herself off as Sam Blalock, Keith’s younger brother. Once in the army, Keith Blalock concluded that his plan would not work. To obtain a medical discharge (he already had a hernia), he stripped and rolled around in poison oak, developing a rash that made him unfit for service. He was discharged on April 20, as was Malinda Blalock after she revealed her true identity. They returned to the mountains where Keith recovered.

Confederate conscription officers soon came calling, driving Keith Blalock into the wilds of Grandfather Mountain, where he began to guide escaped Union prisoners and dissidents from Blowing Rock, across Grandfather Mountain near Shull’s Mill, and into Banner Elk. On June 1, 1864 he enlisted in Co. D, 10th Michigan Cavalry, and continued to scout in the High Country, inciting or participating in several skirmishes in the area and losing an eye. Malinda Blalock may have dressed as a man again and accompanied Keith, but firm evidence has not been found.

After the war ended, the Blalocks moved to Mitchell County briefly before heading to Texas. They later returned to North Carolina and settled south of here in Montezuma. They are both buried in the Montezuma Community Cemetery.

(caption)
(left) Sarah M. Blalock - Courtesy North Carolina Collections, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
(right) William M. “Keith” Blalock - Courtesy Avery County Historical Society and Museum

Major funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21th Century.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Yellow Mountain Road

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North Carolina, Avery County, near Newland

Along a route nearby the "Over-Mountain Men" marched to victory at King's Mountain, 1780.

(War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Settlement Community

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Texas, Galveston County, Texas City
During Reconstruction former slaves founded a community known as the Settlement on land platted by Judge William J. Jones for purchase by freedmen. Prior to this, a number of cattlemen moved to this area with their slaves. During the Civil War, George Washington Butler was placed in charge of a containment camp and used slave labor from there to drive cattle for the Confederate Army. After the war ended, Butler continued in the cattle industry, hiring freedmen as Cowboys. Some of them lived in the community first known as Highland Tank.

The first settlers were Kneeland and Slyvia Britton,and Albert and Priscilla (Britton) Phillips. Calvin Bell, Thomas Britton and David Hobgood were area Cowboys and pioneers of the community. By 1870 the Rev. Israel S. Campbell helped begin a church; residents built a sanctuary and school the following year in a community called Campbellville for the Reverand. Pioneering families, however called it Settlement shortened from “Our Settlement,” declaring the importance of freedom and owning land.

The African American community prospered throughout the late 1800's. Many male residents worked on Butler Ranch or as farmers. Also, unique for the time, the community had a high literacy rate. By the early 1900's residence worked in the railroad occupations and later in industry. In 1911, an interurban line came through the community, and Highland Station open; the Settlement was known as Highlands and La Marque until it was incorporated into the city limits of Texas City in the 1950's. The community began to decline in the 1960's, when many young people left to work in an integrated society. However, rodeos and trail rides have been held as reminders of this once flourishing and self-sufficient community founded by African American Cowboys.

(African Americans • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Crossnore School

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North Carolina, Avery County, Crossnore

Founded by Mary Martin Sloop, physician, 1913, to serve region's youth. Weaving Room, est. 1920, boosted revival of handicrafts. Campus ½ mi. W.

(Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Saint Patrick's Catholic Church

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Texas, San Patricio County, San Patricio
Empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin brought Irish Catholic immigrant families to Texas about 1829 to form a new colony, San Patricio de Hibernia. Under the direction of the Rev. Henry Doyle, the colonists established Saint Patrick's Catholic Church about 1830. A fire in 1858 destroyed the original frame church building and all church records. The Rt. Rev. Jean Marie Odin, first Bishop of Texas, dedicated a replacement church building about 1859.

Local citizens built a two-and-one-half story building for a convent and school on the grounds of Saint Patrick's Church. After an 1875 hurricane destroyed facilities at Indianola, nuns from the order of Sisters of Mercy relocated in San Patricio and operated Saint Joseph's convent and school from 1876 until 1884.

After a 1919 hurricane completely demolished the church facilities, the congregation rebuilt in 1922. A need for a larger facility led the congregation to build a fourth structure in 1961. Through the years Saint Patrick's Catholic Church has served the community with Sunday Mass and the sacraments and missions given by visiting priests.

(Churches, Etc. • Education • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Kewaunee County Lime Kilns

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Wisconsin, Kewaunee County, near Kewaunee

     Before modern cement came onto the market, lime was used in the making of mortar for brick and stonework. Lime was also used for whitewashing wood instead of painting. Large furnaces used heat to reduce nearby limestone rocks into lime.

     As early as 1853, lime kilns were operated in the county by the Seth Moore family. The kiln portions which still stand near here were built in 1893 by the Nast brothers. The pictures show the kilns as well as a row of houses built for the workers, who were mostly Italian.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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