About

This is a 2 day event to highlight the story of Hunter's Iron Works.

James Hunter’s Iron Works, also known as Rappahannock Forge, was located east of Falmouth. It was Stafford’s major industrial enterprise and one of Virginia’s and America’s early major industrial plants. Hunter’s large complex ran from today’s Old Forge neighborhood, south to the Rappahannock River, and east underneath I-95, to the Carter’s Crossing Shopping Center.

Hunter’s forge and blast furnace was the largest in Colonial America. In the Revolution, it produced weapons and implements for the Continental Army and Navy. The complex contained a blast furnace and forge; slitting, hammer, merchant, wire, plating, grist, saw, and steel mills; naileries and tanyards; carpenter, cooper, smith, and wheelwright shops; coal houses; stables; storage buildings; and quarters. It was considered the largest iron works in the colonies