Farmsteading lime, iron and gold in N.C. during the Civil War and Reconstruction
The “Historic Keener Farmstead” in Lincoln County was one of many properties that helped fuel an industrial revolution in the North Carolina Piedmont during the 19th Century. In 1853 Lawson Keener purchased a portion of the Keener Farmstead from his father, Jacob — son of Abraham (or possibly John Sr.) — and operated a lime kiln on the property during and after the war.
Not much is known about the use of the property prior to Lawson’s stewardship, but it had likely been wrought of its natural resources for many years by then — probably using slave labor. According to some sources, the Keener kiln supplied the limestone used to build the first brick structures in Lincolnton. And the Statesville Record and Landmark tells us (May 5, 1923) that lime was apparently hauled from the Keener kiln to (re)build what was then Concord Female College in Statesville — now Mitchell Community College.
As I have noted previously, limestone and iron ore from the Keener Farmstead may have been used to fuel Joseph Graham’s Vesuvius Furnace prior to 1800. But by 1866, the magnetic ores were known nationwide for producing “celebrated iron, strong and tough.” There was also a gold mine on the property apparently. The area is now known as Iron Station and was once home to several iron furnaces.
“In North Carolina, beginning at the western part of the midland counties, which are traversed by three belts of magnetic ores, changed in some places to specular, the first belt…passes from six to seven miles east of Lincolnton, and is prolonged into the King’s Mountain range of Gaston county southwestward…The veins have been wrought for many years and have made a celebrated iron, strong and tough.” — Peter Lesley, “The Iron Manufacturer’s Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and Rolling Mills of the United States; with Discussions of Iron, Etc” (1866).
Lewis and Lawson were both appointed as delegates to the Democratic State Convention in 1858 according to The Weekly Standard in Raleigh (January 27), but after the Civil War they both apparently became Republicans during Reconstruction. The Tri-Weekly Era in Raleigh (April 13) reported their appointments as delegates to the Republican State Convention for “Union Township” in Lincoln County in 1872. No other details have been discovered (by me) about their politics, but the white Republican- converts apparently did not fare too well in the post-Reconstruction South.
The “Keener and Finger lime lands” were a landmark in the area in 1881 (Lincoln Progress, June 11), and the 1889 edition of Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory (by Levi Branson) lists Lewis as a Gold Mine Proprietor and Lawson as a Lime Manufacturer; however, Lawson would foreclose on his property later that year — then re-purchase and foreclose on it again. Lawson’s property was eventually seized by the county and sold at public auction.
H. F. Carpenter, Sons, and Co. purchased the property in 1890. The Charlotte Observer noted at the time that the “deposit of lime…is said to be inexhaustible” (April 13, 1890). Over the next decade others would purchase options in the lime quarry and ore bank (The Newton Enterprise, August 15, 1902), but the quarry was apparently not operational for a number of years into the 20th Century.
As late as 1917, the Carpenters were petitioning the county to improve their road “so that it can be used in hauling the equipment for the Keener lime quarry, which he and others propose to put in operation soon.” Carpenter claimed the mine would output 250 tons a day and offered “to sell lime cheaper to Lincoln farmers and others if the road is improved” (The Lincoln County News; August 6, 1917).
As the Lincoln County Historical Association notes, the “suppressed economy in the South after the war, coupled with depleted natural resources, brought about the [iron] industry’s fate.” The gold mine didn’t really pan out (pun intended) either. And yet, as late as 1922, The Lincoln Times was recommending the new electric line through Lincoln County be extended to “Goodsonville, Lincolnton and Maiden to Newton and on by Hickory to Blowing Rock.”
The Lincolnton paper wanted the new electric line run by the Keener Lime Quarry which was still “noted for its building qualities and fertilizing properties” —in addition to the “Big Ore Bank where there is an inexhaustible supply of high grade Iron Ore which can be mined and sold at a profit” (The Gastonia Gazette; January 25, 1922). But cotton mills — several of which Mr. Carpenter also owned — had oddly enough replaced lime quarries and kilns, iron furnaces and mines as major employers in the region by the turn of the 20th century.
The Keener family also moved on. By September 11, 1924 The Lincoln County News reported: “Lincoln County’s first bale of 1924 cotton was ginned Wednesday, Sept. 10th, by Keener’s gin at Goodsonville. The cotton was raised by Mr. Will Wingate on the lands of J. S. Mitchem near Lincolnton. The cotton was sold to Lineberger Brothers at Lincolnton for 23 cents a lb., the bale weighing 407 pounds.”
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like my eBook…
