The Beehive Brick Kiln
From the turn of the century until the late 1960’s nine kilns on this site were operated by inmates of the Lorton correctional facility.
The bricks stacked inside this kiln are ready to be baked. For 4 to 5 days coal fires in each of the hearths were stoked around the clock. Hot air rose along the inside of the vaulted walls but did not escape through the hole in the ceiling. Heat was sucked down through the bricks, between louvers in the floor, across an underground flue, and up the tall chimney which stands beside the kiln.
These kilns were a primary local source of the red brick used in constructing the historic durable buildings now seen throughout northern Virginia. Today beehive kilns are little used.
Marker is on Occoquan Regional Park Road near Ox Road (Virginia Route 123), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
