Coopersville Ironworks Site (38CK2) and Susan Furnace Site
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Address Restricted (Cherokee County)
Alternate Name:
Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Company; Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817711002
Description and Narrative:
(Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Company; Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company) Coopersville is the largest surviving antebellum iron manufacturing complex in South Carolina. The complex includes foundations of four large factory buildings, with a system of canal/sluiceways between them, and the remains of three furnaces. The Coopersville Ironworks complex exhibits the most complete and intact set of features associated with the early iron industry in northwestern South Carolina. The Coopersville Ironworks and Susan Furnace were developed between 1835 and 1843 by the Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Company, the largest iron company in South Carolina. The Nesbitt Company was dissolved in the late 1840s, and the Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company of South Carolina operated the ironworks from 1850 until the Civil War. The main factory complex of the Coopersville Ironworks Site is the best preserved factory complex of any of the nineteenth century iron manufacturing companies of the region. The outlying furnace, Susan Furnace, exhibits a partially collapsed furnace and associated features, including foundations, sluiceways, slag heaps, and adjacent ore pits. This site is the one of the best preserved furnace operations in the area with the only disturbance being an early twentieth century railroad bed which passes through the site along the route of the old tram road. Listed in the National Register November 13, 1976.
Period of Significance:
1860;before 1400;18th century;19th century
Level of Significance:
State
Area of Significance:
Archeology: Historic - Non-Aboriginal;Archeology: Prehistoric;Industry
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
November 13 1976
