I thought that I introduced a new topic- the early iron industry. But  
all Anita wants to do is relate it back to slaves. There is a lot  
more to discuss here. For instance the iron industry was one of the  
first where ownership was by a group, rather than an individual.  
There is also the entire issue of "Iron Plantations". Contrary to  
popular belief these were not an industrial adaptation of the  
agricultural plantation (they predate the American colonies).

I would be interested in any information anyone has concerning  
bloomeries and fineries (not associated with blast furnaces). These  
are smaller operations and as a result do not as readily show up in  
either the documentary or archaeological record.

My research on the blast furnaces of Virginia has shown that many of  
the accepted dates of construction and operation are incorrect. K  
Bruce did a good job, but that was 70 years ago. A number of  
documents have come to light since then and she had to read each  
document and could not do word searches. Makes life a lot easier for  
us (at least for those sources that have been digitized). It was for  
that reason that I included the list I have compiled.

James Brothers, RPA
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Loretta Kelldorf
> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 11:50 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: New Subject
>
> Perhaps it is time to begin a new topic of discussion.  With the long
> history of VA, surely there are other interests than slavery.  What  
> is the
> list interested in discussing?
>
> Pirates on the outer banks?
> Federalist Papers?
> How geography affected development?
> Indian traders?
> Shipping  and/or the VA navy?
> Huguenot settlements ?
> The War of 1812 ?
>
> Someone please be brave enough to jump in with a new topic of  
> discussion.
> Let us avoid chastising each other and getting dangerously close to  
> flaming.
>
> Loretta