The Charlotteburg Hotel was still standing in the remains of the iron-producing community in the 1940s. (File photo)
Traveling northwest on congested Route 23 past the north gate of Smoke Rise and crossing a bridge that separates Morris and Passaic counties, one passes through City of Newark watershed-owned mountainous woodlands where the once-thriving community of Charlotteburg existed long ago.
It is difficult to realize that long before Newark owned the property, the community was part of a town with a developed, smoky iron industry that hid the sun from view.
The section still known as Charlotteburg is now part of West Milford.
It is hard to imagine that the Macopin Intake/Charlotteburg Reservoir area between the north and south lanes of Route 23 was part of a town with hundreds of inhabitants.
Charlotteburg played an important part in the birth and growth of the nation. The ironmasters and workers should not be forgotten because they laid foundations for the nation and its iron industry.
A natural feature of this Highlands Region home of the Munsee-speaking Lenni-Lenape Indians is the rocky terrain. The Indians described it as “a place of slanting rock,” or what sounds like “Ramapo.”
Seeing the black and gray mountain outcroppings, the early explorers from across the sea knew in the early 1700s - and maybe even the late 1600s - that they had found what they were looking for.
The roots of England’s iron industry trace back to the iron age in about 50 BC, with the arrival of iron-working techniques from Southern Europe. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain about 1760. The Chinese were making pig iron during the later Zhou dynasty that ended in 256 BC.
It is no wonder that the English leaders who were colonizing America were enthusiastic. England from the very early 1700s had no problem receiving a needed ore supply from Spain and Sweden but it had been destroying many of the forests by using trees in fires to make charcoal for the smelting process.
First blast furnace
In 1735, Cornelius Board, hoping to find cooper, found iron instead. By 1740, the Ogdens purchased land that Board had acquired and formed the Ringwood Co. The tract included 94 acres.
The first blast furnace in what is now West Milford was erected in 1707 by Peter Hasenclaver on the west branch of the Pequannock River at a site that he named Charlotteburg, in honor of Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III of England.
Hasenclaver, a German iron master, was manager for the British-owned America Co. He also bought 6,475 acres of what was to become known as the Great Charlotteburg Furnace Tract.
The land was bought from Oliver Delancy, Henry Cutler Jr. and Walter Rutherford, agents of the East Jersey Board of Proprietors
Hasenclaver spared no expense in building the iron works, consisting of waterways, a casting house, a bellows house, a wheel house, a ton house, three very large coal houses, two double forges, two saw mills, three blacksmith shops, six large frame dwelling houses and 37 log houses plus the necessary storehouses, workshops, barns and stables. These were spread over a three-mile area.
There was a Charlotteburg railroad train station on Route 23 property opposite today’s Echo Lake Road/Route 23 traffic light. The station was torn down and property remains vacant.
There was also a popular Charlotteburg Hotel, where many good times certainly must have taken place.
The blast furnace could make from 20 to 25 tons of pig iron a week that could be created at a small expense because of the abundance of wood and ore in the area and a never-ending water source for power.
The furnace was built like a square chimney about 30 feet in height of stone hewn from the nearby quarry. This chimney was lined with locally obtained fireclay because the temperature in the furnace got very hot when not in operation.
A stone wall was built directly behind the furnace, providing access to the top from which the furnace was loaded. A temporary wooden bridge across the gap permitted the carts to dump their cargos of ore.
Charlotteburg also had a factory that manufactured pincers and dyes. Iron was taken from the ground and fashioned into a marketable product. Hasenclever arranged to hire 535 skilled German ironworkers to work in the mines and smelting furnaces.
Minor German princess
Charlotteburg was named by Hasenclever for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte), who was born May 19, 1744, into a ruling family in northern Germany.
In 1760, unmarried George III, age 22, inherited the British throne on his father’s death. Charlotte, 17, was a minor German princess with no interest in politics, so the kind and his advisers considered her a suitable consort.
After George announced his intention to marry Charlotte, a party of escorts went to Germany to bring her to England. The voyage was extremely difficult, with three storms encountered at sea.
After spending the night in Witham, at the residence of Lord Abercorn, Charlotte and her escorts arrived the next day at St. James Palace in London. They were received by the king and his family at the garden gate - that was the first meeting of the bride and bridegroom.
At 9 p.m. Sept. 8, 1761, within six hours of her arrival, Charlotte was married to George III. The ceremony was performed at the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Swecker. Only the royal family, the small group who had traveled from Germany and a handful of guests were present.
George III and Charlotte’s coronation was held at Westminster Abbey two weeks later after they had a brief honeymoon at Richmond Lodge. On her wedding day, Charlotte spoke little English, but she quickly learned the language. Less than a year after their marriage, she gave birth to her first child, George, Prince of Wales, on Aug. 12, 1762.
During her first year in Great Britain, Charlotte’s strained relationship with her mother-in-law, Augusta, caused her difficulty in adapting to the life of British royalty. Augusta interfered with Charlotte’s efforts to establish social contacts by insisting on rigid court etiquette.
Charlotte turned to her German companions for friends. Her personal correspondence with her brother Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, showed the depth of her loneliness and her frustration with the rules of royal life.
Charlotte did have some political influence through her husband, the king. It was said to be discreet and indirect as demonstrated in the correspondence with her brother. She used her closeness to George III to keep herself informed and to make recommendations for offices. She especially was interested in German issues.
George’s episodes of physical and mental illness began in October 1788 and lasted until March 1789. Charlotte is said to have been deeply distressed by the change in her husband’s behavior. After the king collapsed one night, she refused to be alone with him and insisted successfully that she have a separate bedroom
The marriage lasted 57 years and produced 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood.
Charlotte introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, decorating one for a party for Windsor children in 1800.
George’s bouts of physical and mental illness became permanent in his latter life. Their eldest son, George, was appointed prince regent in 1811 because of the severity of the king’s illness.
Charlotte died in November 1818, with several of her children at her side. George III died about a year later, most likely unaware of his wife’s death.