The Coal Shed

The Coal Shed. . , Eli Whitney constructed this shed in 1804 to store charcoal. It is the oldest of the surviving Whitney buildings. Four storage buildings, built with site-quarried stone, nestled into this hillside. To your right, you can still see the trace of a path that climbs the bank behind them. Charcoal came up the Mill River on a flat bottomed boat called a scow. Workmen carted the fuel from the landing up the hill and tipped it into the gable of the storehouse., Charcoal was the heart of the Armory's work. Its purified carbon produced the temperatures and chemistry necessary to forge, weld, temper, and harden Musket parts., Charcoal is an example of the challenges Whitney faced. Charcoal production consumes vast tracts of trees. Colliers had nearly deforested Connecticut's woodlands by 1798. The furnaces of Salisbury and Caanan (in Northwestern Connecticut) that supplied Whitney iron were his rivals for every scrap of charcoal. Whitney despaired: "I find that my personal attention is more constantly and essentially necessary to every branch of the work than I apprehended... , He eventually found suppliers in distant Pennsylvania., Whitney's 1825 probate inventory recorded 5,075 bushels of charcoal valued at $305.50., ( photo captions ) , , Colliers level hearths and erect a chimney pole. Wood cutters stack oak billets to form a conical kiln. Leaves, then earth and clay seal and control the kiln. Its charring muyst be tended for 14 days. (Diderot’s Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry Pl24) , , The sheds have been rebuilt frequently over the last 200 years. Machinery processed kaolin here for Heaney Inductries until 1979. Today it is a storage shed for the Museum’s wood parts and projects.