COLD SPRING – It is now an abandoned industrial site, but 160 years ago when the Civil War began the West Point Foundry gave the Union Army the muscle it needed to fight the conflict with the manufacture of the its artillery pieces.
A ceremony was conducted Saturday at the West Point Foundry Archeological Site when it was designated as a federal National Historical Landmark.
“It’s the highest ranking federal designation of a historic site,” said Rita Shaheen, director of Parks and Public Engagement for Scenic Hudson, which manages the site.
During Civil War, the foundry, which operated from 1817-1911, produced 2,500 of the famed Parrott guns and three million projectiles used to combat the Confederate succession. There was also the manufacture of items that were non-military.
“Beside military things like the cannon, there were waterwheels, things for sugar mills, steamships locomotives, engines for that,” said Shaheen.
The site is very tranquil now along the Hudson River, but during the war and at other times of its operation, the foundry operated 24 hours, 7 days –a-week under clouds of smoke and soot – minus today’s tree growth that was cleared then to make room for the 19th century industrial complex.
“It would be loud,” said Shaheen. “Everything, you see where there are trees, were not trees.”
