Collier's Hut

Collier's Hut. Catoctin Mountain Park. A collier was part manufacturer, firefighter, and watchman. After igniting as many as seven stacks, he stayed close by in a small tepee hut like this one. Too much was at stake., Every three hours for two weeks, the collier patrolled the smoking pits and "jumped the stacks." He kept a keen eye out for flare-ups and quickly extinguished them, so the charcoal, and his expected income, would not go up in smoke. Whenever he could, the collier returned to the hut, cooked his meals on the hearth in the back and snuck in a few winks before resuming his rounds., The reconstructed hut stands on the site of an earlier shelter. The pile of stones to your right is all that remains of another hut's cooking-and-heating hearth., [Image caption:] , A collier pauses for a moment at the entrance to his hut.