Jerry Davis 10/30/2025 October 29, 2025 In the early and mid-1800s stone furnaces built for smelting iron dotted the Kentucky landscape. The plentiful timber for charcoal, limestone for flux and low-grade iron deposits enabled entrepreneurs to produce much needed iron for settlers. Later, an iron industry developed making Kentucky the third largest iron producer in the United States. The Fitchburg Iron Furnace, built in 1868, was the largest stone furnace built in Kentucky a
