In the decades leading up to the Revolutionary War, rich deposits of iron ore were discovered in the Ramapo Mountains. Early entrepreneurs who sought to capitalize on this resource by mining and smelting the ore into products, however, were thwarted by British laws that prohibited the manufacture of finished goods in the American Colonies.

In this illustrated talk, Susan Deeks will discuss the ironmaking villages that existed on Rockland’s western border during the 1770s; the challenges they faced to protect their facilities, operations, and laborers; and their role in helping George Washington prevail over the British in the Hudson Valley.

About the speaker: Susan Deeks is the executive director of the Historical Society of Rockland County and a former director of the Friends of Long Pond Ironworks in West Milford, NJ. She has a master’s degree in history, with a concentration in the industrial history of the Lower Hudson Valley and specialization in the historical iron mines, forges, and furnaces that operated in the Ramapo Mountains from 1764 to 1888.