Forges of Saint-Maurice NHS

We drove this morning to the Three Rivers (Trois Rivieras) area. We set up camp and then when out to explore the NHS site near the campground. This one was not originally on our list and we are really glad that we added it.

We started with he Xplorer Books and identifying spices, dressing like forge workers and learning the history of the forge.

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This site has great archeological significance and they had a cutout of the soil sample layers with objects you may find in them.

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The forge made all sorts of cast iron products. The train wheels were very large.

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We learned about the different rocks that went into making the iron. They referred to them as Shepherds Pie because the colors are like the same ingredients of shepherds pie. We learned how they made cast iron products like kettles and skillets. That was really neat to see the molds and how heavy the cast iron items were.

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Everything in red is a reproduction of an original piece that was wooden when the forge operated.

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The bellows were an impressive size!

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We learned how they would make coal in these mounds and they would have to tend them so the fires didn’t burn too hot. Then the coal was used for the furnace of the forge.

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This is all that remains of the lower furnace today.

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We had watched a video about the devil coming up through a hole on the beach and how people were scared of this area. It was named Devil’s Hole. Well, we found the hole on the beach along the river by the forge. It was a really bubbly red spring. No wonder legends were made of it.

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