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The Annual Falling Creek Ironworks tour will be held Saturday, March 21, 2009 from 12:30 to 4:00. Contact Norma Corbin. Exhibits of crafts including blacksmithing, Native American life and a variety of displays about the ironworks will be set up. Hourly guided tours of the ironworks will be done.

Announcement

Dendrochronology Results Show Archibald Cary's Forge To Be Timber Source

Timbers that washed out of the bank after two early 2007 storms were tested by dendrochronology to determine their calendar year dates. Oxford Dendrochronology performed the testing. Two cut dates were identified in multiple timbers. The first cut set was in the period 1730-1740 corresponding with Archibald Cary's inheritance of the property in 1750. The second cut set was in the period 1760-1770 corresponding with a rebuild that Cary apparently had done at the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Dig archaeologists had to be the only archaeologists in the country who would be disappointed by getting a middle 18th century date on such magnificent timbers. They had hoped that the timbers were from the earlier Virginia Company Period. See the write-up for details.

Timbers Exposed By Recent Floods

Timbers on the south bank of Falling Creek were exposed recently by two 4"+ rainstorms in the Falling Creek drainage. Chesterfield County employee Ralph Lovern noted the timbers and notified the archaeologists. The thinking was that due to the massive size of the timbers, of which there were several that measured 24" square and one that was 44x36xat least 120' in dimension, that the timbers should be from the 1619-1622 venture. It was felt that the large, old-growth forest would have been removed by the time that Archibald Cary built his forge in 1750. Dendrochronology was to be used to determine their cut years, if possible.