No Longer Yours:
Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina

Wood-Inland-Carving Culture

Taking the inland south into consideration, the Piedmont region of North Carolina produced a remarkable legacy of iron ore production. Iron works such as the Vesuvius furnace of Lincoln County produced beautifully crafted iron works as well as other useful resources. Like naval stores, which you learned about in the previous section, the production of iron ore is a laborious task. To yield iron ore from the landscape and to produce iron-crafted objects meant that men and women, who were most often enslaved but also free people of color, risked their lives on a regular basis.

In the nineteenth century, the state of North Carolina, in general, and, in particular, its Piedmont region contained large deposits of iron ore. These deposits fueled the need for Iron Works Plantations across the piedmont region. The abundance of the four necessary natural elements to produce iron were a significant reason for these deposits of iron ore. Fast flowing waterways, limestone, crystalized stone, and hardwood. Limestone was important as a fluxing agent while fast moving water, powered turbines, water wheels, and large crystallized stone supported the structural integrity of the furnace stack that housed the iron ore.

The last element necessary is that of hardwood, which was used to produce charcoal—an essential agent in the continual operation of furnaces for up to six months at a time. At almost every level of iron ore production, African Americans were necessary to collect the natural materials and keep the process of producing iron ore ongoing until iron was produced. Enslaved ironworkers had to mine hard rock and cut down large quantities of forest to produce enough hardwood to contribute to the production process. All of the above natural features were present in large deposits in Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, and Lincoln counties.

To understand the total importance of wood in the process of many plantations, in general, and iron furnace production, in particular, one needs to look no further than the image below.



This image depicts a hierarchical chart of necessary persons, most of whom are enslaved, who perform the tasks necessary to make iron ore. At the bottom are the woodcutters. At first glance, this representation may present the notion of an inferior position. While true in terms of power, woodcutters were the critical elements in the entire operation. This is also apparent from the large numbers that are necessary to cut and haul wood from the forest to the plantations. All duties on an iron plantation required a high level of skill regardless of their connection to the process of making iron ore or retrieving materials connected to that process. Whether a woodcutter, a collier, a teamster or other laborer, enslaved laborers were trained in and learned skilled work. 

 
 
 

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