Skilled laborers in the foundry’s pattern shop crafted Rules exacting wooden replicas (or patterns) of the Parrott guns, • Vehicles permitted only in designated parking area which ranged in size from 10 to 300 pounds (according to • Commuter parking is prohibited the weight of projectile they shot). In the nearby casting • Stay on marked trails and within posted shop, these patterns were pressed into wet sand and property boundaries carefully removed. Molten iron from reheated pigs was • Be considerate of park visitors and adjoining poured into this mold. property owners Once the metal cooled, the cannons were separated • Pets must be leashed (6 ft. maximum); clean up their from the mold and delivered to the boring mill. Here the waste 36-foot-diameter water wheel powered machinery for • All natural, cultural and archaeological  West Point drilling out the guns’ interior. Parrott guns featured a resources are protected and must not be rifled bore—spiraling grooves that caused projectiles to removed or disturbed spin when fired, enhancing their accuracy. • Relic hunting is prohibited; possession and use of Foundry At the blacksmith shop workers attached a band of a metal detector is prohibited wrought iron slipped over the cannons’ breech (the point • Geocaching and Letterboxing are prohibited Leading the Nation furthest from the muzzle) that tightened as it cooled. • Commercial transactions are prohibited Preserve West Point Foundry helped America emerge as an Providing reinforcement, the band prevented the cannons • No smoking industrial superpower. It also played an important role in from breaking apart when fired, and allowed for larger • No possession or consumption of alcohol reuniting a divided United States. powder charges that increased their range. A 30-pound Parrott gun could shoot a projectile nearly four miles. • No fires or barbecues In 1996 Scenic Hudson acquired this In 1860, foundry Superintendent Robert Parker Parrott • No swimming wooded ravine in the historic Village developed a cannon, known as the Parrott gun, whose Finished Parrott guns were taken to the gun platform and • No boat launching, docking or beaching of Cold Spring, protecting the long range and accuracy would give the North a decisive test-fired at targets painted on Crow’s Nest Mountain, remains of the West Point Foundry. advantage in the Civil War. Figuring in every major battle, across the Hudson River. • No drones A pacesetter in the Industrial these cannons were deemed so vital to the war effort that • No bicycling on Red and Yellow trails Revolution, it manufactured some President Abraham Lincoln visited West Point Foundry in of the first U.S. locomotives and 1862. Foundry employees worked 24/7 to meet demand, West Point Foundry Preserve was steamships, pipes for New York eventually manufacturing more than 2,500 Parrott guns— funded by the generous support of: City’s water system and some weighing 13 tons!—and 3 million projectiles. Anne P. Cabot; John and Constance Curran; Charles Flood and cannons that helped Along the Yellow Trail, you can trace the step-by-step Kristin Gamble; Harriet Gamper; Susan and Jim Goodfellow; win the Civil War. process—a forerunner of Henry Ford’s assembly line—of William Burback and Dr. Peter Hofmann; Steven L. Holley; The J.M. Kaplan Fund; Richard Klapper and Helena Lee; creating these “game-changing” weapons. The trail sits Today, exciting Evan Mason and Garrard Beeney; Nancy F. Perkins; atop the rail line that linked the buildings (turntables The Pew Charitable Trusts; Susan Patterson and interpretive made it possible for railcars to enter them). The line Leigh Seippel; Jennifer P. Speers; Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; elements in the also brought raw materials to the foundry and delivered David Swope; Turner Construction Company; Lucy Rockefeller 90-acre preserve finished goods to a loading dock on the river (now Scenic Waletzky; Dawn Watson/Davada Family Foundation; allow visitors to explore the Hudson’s Foundry Dock Park). Environmental Protection Fund administered by NYS Office foundry’s history, its role in of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the Civil War and the land’s The Hudson Valley offered an abundance of materials Environmental Protection Fund administered by NYS remarkable ecological critical for producing iron, especially iron ore and Department of State awarded to Putnam County; Preserve renewal. trees to make charcoal for heating a blast furnace. America; Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Hudson Valley Under temperatures around 2,700°F, the iron liquefied, Land Preservation Endowment. separating from the rocks’ other components, and was Scenic Hudson, Inc. channeled into molds, called pigs. The blast furnace at One Civic Center Plaza, Suite 200 West Point Foundry shut down in 1844. Iron to make Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 • 845 473 4440 Parrott guns came from furnaces in Orange County. Top left: Parrott gun on Morris Island, SC; www.scenichudson.org Above: Michigan Tech student excavating the boring mill. v1018 showcasing thetranquil forest thatsurrounds them. interpretive features, designedtobringthepast tolifewhile Their discoveries formedthebasis forthepreserve’s Technological University’s IndustrialArchaeology Program. years offield research byteachersandstudentsinMichigan site’s historyandnatural beauty. Later, we sponsored eight structure) andblazedtrails thatconnectvisitorswiththe stabilized the1865officebuilding (theonlyintactfoundry planned development. We removed truckloads ofgarbage, In 1996,ScenicHudsonacquired thislandtoprevent its highlighting theneedtoprotect itssubstantialremains. more than100,000artifactsrelated toWest Point Foundry, archaeological investigation prior to the cleanup uncovered in areturn ofhealthywildlifehabitat.Amandatory sediment andreplaced itwithcleanfill,ushering sites. The project removed 189,000tonsofcontaminated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s firstSuperfund toxic metalsfrom anearbybatteryfactory, andoneofthe cleanup ofadjacentFoundry Cove, severely polluted by In themid-1990s,thiswasstagingarea foramassive the roar ofmachinery. Gradually, trees reclaimed thelandandbirdcalls replaced and brickssalvagedforconstruction projects elsewhere. industries, thebuildingsbegantodisappear, theirstones West Point Foundry’s closure andaperiodofusebyother ironworks filled nearly every inchofthis ravine. Following From 1818to1911,oneofthecountry’s mostimportant nature’s amazingpowersofrestoration. one aboutthesite’s industrialheritage,theotherabout West Point Foundry Preserve tellstwoimportantstories— Merging Nature&History

Courtesy Putnam History Museum year-round, dawntodusk. Metro-North station•Park open Accessible from ColdSpring 68 KembleAve, ColdSpring,NY West Point Foundry Preserve Scenic Hudson’s Main Street. foundry-era buildingsalong “worker houses”andother downtown ColdSpring,passing This trail loopsthrough unstabilized archaeological ruin should betaken around steeper elevation; specialcare sites inColdSpring.Itfollowsa foundry ruins aswellrelated this trail leadstoadditional boring millandwaterwheel, Heading upstream from the is lightlygraded. preserve’s key sites.The trail takes you tomany ofthe The journey thatbeginshere 0.5 mile Foundry Trail Yellow 1.2 m and ColdSpring Foundry Blue Trail 1 mile More toExplore Red Trail iles

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Lovingly restored, ithostsconcerts andother events. church wasbuiltbythe foundryforitsRoman Catholicworkers The ChapelRestoration: place toenjoyHudson Highlandsviewsandlaunch akayak. where a600-footpierstretched intotheriver—it’s agreat Foundry DockPark: Don’t missthesenearbysitesrelated toWest Point Foundry. More toExplore To Main St. Main To Oncethefoundry’s loadingdock— NexttoFoundry DockPark, this

. now feature anenticing array ofshops and restaurants. businesses servingthefoundry’s considerable laborforce Main Street: excellent permanent display abouttheironworks. foundry apprentices andemployees’children, itfeatures an Putnam History Museum: Well-preserved buildings thatoncehoused Located in the school for Locatedintheschoolfor