Near Reidsville in Rockingham County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Troublesome Iron Works

Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, September 10, 2021

1. Troublesome Iron Works Marker

Inscription. Used in the Revolution. Greene's army camped there after Battle of Guilford Courthouse,1781 Washington visited, 1791. Site is 1 ½ mile north.

Erected 2008 by North Carolina Office of Archives and History. (Marker Number J-16.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Revolutionary. A significant historical year for this entry is 1781.

Location. 36° 17.387′ N, 79° 44.066′ W. Marker is near Reidsville, North Carolina, in Rockingham County. It is on U.S. 158 east of Monroeton Road, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Reidsville NC 27320, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Piedmont.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At

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least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Speedwell Church (approx. 2.1 miles away); Alfred M. Scales (approx. 5.7 miles away); Glenn T. Settle (approx. 5.9 miles away); First Public School in N.C. (approx. 6 miles away); 9/11 Memorial (approx. 6.1 miles away); Saint Paul United Methodist Church (approx. 6.1 miles away); Reidsville Sesquicentennial (approx. 6.1 miles away); First Baptist Church (approx. 6.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Reidsville.

Also see . . . Troublesome Creek Ironworks.

Troublesome Creek Ironworks was originally established as Speedwell Furnace in 1770 in what is now southern Rockingham County by Joseph Buffington, a Quaker ironmaster from Chester County, Pa. Using a lottery to raise capital, Buffington purchased the nearby "mine hill" of Henry Work and the site on the creek where he constructed a rock dam for waterpower, a bloomery to produce pig iron, and a forge for making finished iron items. Buffington sold the ironworks in 1772, probably discovering through practice what is now known through scientific analysis: that the titaniferous
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, September 10, 2021

2. Troublesome Iron Works Marker
magnetite ore in the area contains too high a concentration of titanium dioxide to produce high-quality iron. This factor established a pattern of failure in all of the attempts to produce iron there.

(Submitted on November 27, 2022, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina.)

Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 13, 2021, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 1,267 times since then and 130 times this year. Last updated on January 28, 2023, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 13, 2021, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.