Mt. Aetna Cannon
Mt. Aetna Furnace, at which this cannon was cast in 1776, was located one mile west along Mt. Aetna Road from its
predecessor Antietam furnace which was along Mt. Lena Road. Numerous records from the Revolutionary period describe
the activities at Antietam Furnace which resulted from the award to the Hughes brothers of a contract to cast cannon for
the Continental Army. The extra metal at the muzzle end, into which slag contained in the molten metal would rise, would
have been cut off had the center core stayed in place during the casting. As can be seen by viewing the muzzle end, it was
far out of place and this piece was discarded to remain hidden for 200 years until it was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Carl W.
Shafer in their garden and presented by them to the Washington County Historical Society.
Production of some 70 cannon in what was then a wilderness area was described by Michael D. Thompson in The Iron
Industry in Western Maryland as a "prodigious achievement and an immense contribution to the war effort, unmatched
by any other furnace established in any other North American Colony."
Marker is on Key Street near Museum Drive ( Highland Avenue).
Courtesy hmdb.org
