History lies waiting in the woods

STERLING LAKE — In 1906, the Daughters Of The Revolution placed a tablet to commemorate the ruins of the Sterling Furnace which was built in 1751 alongside Sterling Lake in the Town of Warwick.

According to the tablet, the furnace is believed to have been the first place in the State of New York in which iron and steel were manufactured in quantity.

The plaque notes two important historical events in the early history of the nation:

Iron manufactured here in 1773 was used to make the first anchor created in New York.

Five years later, in 1778, iron manufactured at the Sterling Furnace by Peter Townsend would be use to create the “Great Chain” that was put across the Hudson River near West Point to impede the progress of the British warships during the Revolutionary War.