Brierfield Furnace, Iron manufacturing site in Brierfield, Alabama.

Brierfield Furnace is a 486-acre industrial complex along the Little Cahaba River in Alabama. The site contains several stone and brick furnaces plus building foundations that show how the operation was laid out.

Caswell Campbell Huckabee and Jonathan Newton Smith built the Bibb County Iron Company in 1861 near the Little Cahaba River, with Richard Fell erecting a 36-foot stone blast furnace and a rolling mill in 1862. In 1863 Confederate officials forced a sale for $600,000, renaming it the Bibb Naval Furnace; a 40-foot brick furnace and a rail link to the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad followed, and by 1864 it made 25 tons of iron a day for Selma's arsenal. The 10th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry destroyed it on March 31, 1865, during Wilson's Raid.

The site shows how iron production worked in the 1800s and what techniques workers used at that time. The ruins tell the story of industrial labor during this era and how people made iron using fire and stone.

The site is open today as Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park with hiking trails and camping areas for exploring the ruins. Visitors should bring sturdy shoes and water since the terrain is uneven and offers little shade.

The 1864 output of 25 tons of iron a day fed the Selma arsenal, where it was turned into more than 100 Brooke rifles, naval and coastal cannons. The works had been sold to the Confederate government for $600,000 in 1863 and linked by its own rail line to the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad.