The Stafford Flint Furnace was built in 1880 to process flint for making porcelain. It stands as the last remains of a once thriving town with colonial roots.
The Stafford Flint Furnace was built in 1880 by Thomas Symington in the town of Stafford, Maryland. Stafford was an industrial town in Harford County that initially grew up around a colonial era iron works in 1749.The settlement was strategically located on Deer Creek near its mouth to the Susquehanna River.
The flint furnace is the only structure that remains from this once thriving town. Now part of Susquehanna State Park, the structure is visible from the Stafford Road. To get there, we parked across Deer Creek at Craigs Corner Road. There is a small pull off on top of the remains of an old bridge abutment that can accommodate two vehicles at 39.622673, -76.164158. There is a larger gravel pull off that can accommodate about four vehicles a few dozen yards upstream at about 39.622391, -76.164399.
We walked over the new bridge over Deer Creek and took the trail to the furnace. There is a small tributary to the creek that you need to cross to get to the furnace. During our visit, the wooden bridge over the tributary was partially destroyed, presumably from a flood. In any case the tributary is narrow, shallow, and easily crossable. The furnace ruins are only a minutes’ walk from the road.
The Stafford Flint Furnace sits atop a retaining wall next to Deer Creek. The stack is a stone tower topped with a conical brick portion reminiscent of a bee skep. There is a crack on the southwestern face, and the furnace has a visible lean.
An interesting interpretive sign stands on the north side of the stack. It reads:
“The “flint furnace” is all that remains of the once thriving town of Stafford. Beginning in 1749 with the building of the Rock Forge, an iron works, by George Rock, a succession of furnaces, forges and mills, and other industries occupied the surrounding area. The population of the town fluctuated with the fortunes of the men who owned the companies. During one prosperous era the town boasted a school, boarding house and post office. Much of the town was destroyed by an ice gorge in 1904 after several years of decline.”
“The flint furnace was the last of these industries to survive. White flint was quarried several miles north of Stafford and brought to the furnace by wagons on the canal. The flint was layered in the furnace alternating with wood and set a fire. Heat from the fire drove water out of the flint, cracking it and reducing it to large pebbles. These pebbles were ground into a fine powder. Washed and bagged the flint powder was sent by canal to Trenton, N.J. where it was used to porcelainize pots and pans and to make porcelain china.”
While you are in the neighborhood, you can explore these nearby adventures:
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