Shelby Iron Works Festival Saturday and Sunday

Absolutely perfect weather for this weekend’s 19th annual Shelby Iron Works Festival on the grounds of the Historic Shelby Iron Works in Shelby in southeastern Shelby County. The location is 4 ½ miles south of Columbiana on Highway 42, just west of the Highway 47 intersection.

Some of the activities will include a syrup mill making sugar cane syrup, corn grinding at a real grist mill, blacksmiths in action, an 1870’s saw mill in operation and an authentic Alabama “Moonshine Still.” Other activities will include an antique tractor show and tractor parade and woodcarving demonstrations. Civil War living history will be provided by the 33rd Alabama Infantry.
Music will be provided by Mike Nicholas and the Strings n’ Things Band. Of course, there will be plenty of food and drink, including the world famous old Shelby boiled peanuts.

Friend of the Blog John Brasher is President of the Historic Shelby Association, a non-profit, all volunteer preservation group that owns and operates the park. He tells us that the iron works, established in 1843, was the site of Alabama’s first rolling mill and rolled the iron plating for the CSS Tennessee. It was the site of largest charcoal fired blast furnace in the South…dubbed the “Queen of American Charcoal Furnaces” in the 1880’s. It remained in business until 1923.

John invites everyone to come on down this weekend, promising you’ll have a big time. Admission is free, and so is the parking.

Things will get started around 9 a.m. both days and run until around 5 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.

More information is available at www.shelbyironworks.com.

Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts