The Friends of the Office of State Archaeology, Inc. (FOSA) led the way to have five sites located on lands administered by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) surveyed, studied and nominated to the State Register of Historic Places (SR). Funded by grants from the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), one of these significant industrial archaeo-logical sites, the Charcoal Mound at People's State Forest, was the first of the five nominated as a SR site and designated as a State Archaeological Preserve. Also the first to become a Preserve in five years!

Historical Perspectives, Inc. (HPI) completed extensive historical documentation and limited subsurface testing at the site. What remains above grade is a partially-burned mound that was an incomplete charcoal making event (Photograph 1).

Minimal subsurface investigations (12/18/14) entailed the completion of a series of seven soil cores (Photograph 1) placed at one meter intervals starting in the mound and continuing northeast. The cores closest to the mound had charcoal in them, but outside the mound no charcoal was recovered from cores taken three and four meters to the northeast. However at five and six meters to the northeast, another two cores contained charcoal at the surface and in alternating levels, suggesting the base of a second mound. Unlike the extant mound, this would have been a fully realized production event and the bulk of the charcoal had been harvested.

The charcoal mound represents the remains of an important industry realized throughout Connecticut's vast timber stands. Long before the town of Barkhamsted was incorporated in 1779, local timber was being harvested by ship-builders from Hartford and Windsor as masts for their vessels. The forested portion of the Peoples State Forest region was historically known as "Greenwoods" because of the large stands of hemlock and pine, although oak, chestnut, sugar maple, and beech also grew in abundance. Those looking for cord wood cleared thousands of acres of land. Entire hillsides were systematically harvested for wood to produce charcoal for the regional brick, brass, railroad, and iron industries.

Iron ore was identified near the joint boundary of Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts in the early-eighteenth century. By 1731, iron ore was being extracted from the western section of Salisbury at Old Hill (now Ore Hill). The region's first large-scale blast furnace was constructed in the Lakeville section of Salisbury in 1762 by several entrepreneurs - one of whom was Ethan Allen. Numerous bloomeries and forges sprouted up along virtually every waterway in the area that could be harnessed to provide power.

To the northwest of Barkhamsted, the Richard Smith Forge was built in the Robertsville section of Colebrook in 1771 following the destruction of the ironworks at West Simsbury, now the Collinsville section of Canton. Smith made plans to rebuild and found a site on the Still River in southeastern Colebrook upstream from its junction with Sandy Brook. According to an historical account of Smith's operations, he estimated that 600 to 1,000 cords of wood had to be cut and converted into charcoal to run the forge.

During the American Revolution, 80% of the cannons produced in the colonies were made at the Salisbury Furnace. Over time there were 43 furnaces in operation in what is now designated as the Salisbury Iron District, with 21 located in northwestern Connecticut. While most started as small individual ventures, they eventually grew, and were consolidated by investors. Ultimately the Barnum-Richardson Company gained control of all ironmaking and acres of timber stands in northwestern Connecticut.

Blast furnaces and smaller bloomeries literally burned through thousands of acres of cord wood that had been converted to charcoal. A single blast furnace could go through 350,000 bushels of charcoal a year and an average charcoal hearth of 30 cord of wood created only about 1100 bushels of charcoal, enough to keep the furnace operating for roughly 1½ days.

From the mid-18^th to early-20^th century, colliers were actively working in the surrounding mountains to keep furnaces fueled. Choppers cut all hardwood - particularly oak and chestnut - into four-foot lengths, and the collier would pile the logs into a complexly structured mound that could be as large as 10.5 m (35 ft) in diameter and 4.5 m (15 ft) in height. A crew of four men could build a mound - also called a pit despite the fact that they were above grade - in two days.

Mounds were covered with wet leaves or ferns, and then a layer of sod and twigs. Wood inside was set on fire to burn slowly - never getting above a smolder. Active venting and stirring of the charcoal was required to maintain the ideal temperature. Built far from houses to avoid mishaps, they had to be monitored around the clock to ensure they did not get too much oxygen and completely burn up. Colliers were fined the value of the charcoal if they lost their wood to flames. For optimal production, mounds could smolder for a day, a week, or up to a month depending on the wood species and its moisture content.

Because colliers had to tend the hearths around the clock, some would build temporary huts nearby that they lived in for the entirety of the charcoal season; late winter until the following early winter. They were known to create vegetable gardens and hunt small game to supplement their diet. Although difficult to discern on the landscape, what largely remains of the former charcoal hearths are slightly raised circular beds with a scattering of charcoal at the surface. The ephemeral remains of colliers' huts are more difficult to identify, although the remains of at least one are evident near a former hearth in Peoples State Forest on the west side of Greenwoods Road near East River Road (behind what is now the Barkhamsted Historical Society). In most locations, however, only the remnant circles from mounds can be identified; the remains of transient colliers leaving a much less obvious footprint on the landscape.

The decline of the charcoaling industry paralleled the rise of the coal industry in Pennsylvania. By the 1880s, many of the works in the surrounding area had been closed due to competition from larger firms. By the beginning of the 20th century, coal was making serious inroads at Connecticut's furnaces. Pennsylvania steelmakers were producing stronger solid steel and the demand for iron products waned, particularly cast iron railroad car wheels that previously had created much demand. Capitalizing on the fact that new markets were being developed for the byproducts of charcoal production (acetate of lime and alcohol), charcoal kilns that were enclosed and could harvest the byproducts were established. By 1914, Barnum-Richardson had built the Connecticut Chemical Plant to make charcoal at a wood distillation plant in East Canaan where they could process 21,000 cords of wood a year, significantly contributing to the demise of the collier's profession.

What remains to be learned about the Charcoal Mound at People's State Forest is why it was abandoned in situ. Did the colliers have to abandon the site due to treacherous weather or a full scale forest fire? Did they get called to war? Future testing may provide the answer to why the site was abandoned.