Many thanks to Jon Wolz for leading our December Pop-Up Walk through the Monocacy River Natural Resources Management Area (NRMA). With special permission, the group convened on private property near the Montgomery and Frederick County line. From there, Jon led us along the moderately rugged Furnace Branch Trail maintained by the Monocacy Natural Resource Management Area – a patch of beautiful woods along the Monocacy River. Our goal was to find two different quarry sites, one red and one white. Along the way we stopped at a stone tower and dairy barn. Jon stumped our group of 15 who were guessing the tower had probably been used as a lookout post of some kind. We were wrong! It was used to prepare doves for dinner. We passed along the still standing wall that used to be a limestone kiln used to mine for iron. We wended our way past the remnants of the two quarries with their distinguishing marks while Jon filled in the blanks of how mostly the enslaved worked to blast the rocks. Thankfully, both times we had to cross over shallow water, there were just about enough steppingstones to make the task fall proof. If you decide to venture out along this trail, do note it is normally open to hunters except on Sundays.
