Joseph Sharp's Iron Works
Gingerbread Castle Rd., off of Rte. 23
Map / Directions to Joseph Sharp's Iron Works
The historic marker reads:
"In 1768, Joseph Sharp erected a forge and furnace on the Wallkill River. The village around the Sharp Iron Works became know as Sharpsborough, later becoming Hamburg. Due to the expensive nature of the venture and competing forges, Sharp abandoned the property in 1774. Stephen Ford used it to secretly produce cannonballs for the British during the American Revolution. After reclaiming the property, Joseph Sharp Jr. built the stone grist mill in 1808. Sharp's mill provided the flour for the American troops of the War of 1812. The mill continued to serve the needs of the agricultural community of Sussex County." [1]
An 1888 history of Hardyston explains:
"Joseph [Sharp] came to Hamburg before the Revolutionary war, and took possession of the lands to which his father Isaac had proprietary claims. These lands extended along the Wallkill from the State line, and, with a few breaks, to the Ogden tract above Franklin Furnace and to Penn's line, with extensive mountain tracts. He built the forge or furnace near the Fountain bridge, and named it the Sharpsboro Iron Works. The manufacture of iron under the restrictions imposed by the British Government was not remunerative, and under financial embarrassment he returned to Salem.
The works abandoned by Sharp fell into the hands of Stephen Ford, Senior, who lived in the house, near the Upper Hamburg bridge, which was afterwards enlarged by his son David. He was a native of England and sympathized with the English during the war of Independence. It is said that he made iron for the use of the British Army and cast cannon balls for them. His men often performed their work at night, and the children and females of the family carried food for the workmen from the house to the forge after dark. He received considerable sums of English gold which he secreted in small bags let down in the partition walls between the plastering. He had sheet iron shutters made at the forge for the windows of his house. This was reputed to be a place of retreat for the more open Tories and free booters when they were closely pursued. He seems to have been on good terms with his neighbors, even the patriotic ones, and kept quiet in the later years of the war, escaping arrest although under surveillance." [2]
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