For DMs looking to imbue their fantasy worlds with the gritty, relentless authenticity of a true industrial complex, there is no better real-world inspiration than the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Massachusetts. Often overlooked, this small National Park preserves the reconstructed heart of North America’s very first integrated iron works, a technological marvel that operated in the 17th century. It offers a blueprint for creating the a dwarven town intruding on agrarian culture: a place defined by innovation, conflict, and the brutal necessity of continuous production.
The Heart of American Industry
The Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, nestled in Saugus, Massachusetts, is more than just a history lesson; it is a meticulously recreated 17th-century living museum. This twelve-acre National Park includes working waterwheels, forges, mills, and the historic Iron Works House. Visitors can immerse themselves in the iron-making process by walking the grounds, which are accessible seven days a week. The site’s core operational features—the bellows, the massive trip hammer, the blast furnace, and the rolling and slitting mill—are all reconstructed on their original foundations.Seeing the waterwheel in action really brings home what it must have been like to have an iron works in town. This overshot wheel, powered by the flow of the Saugus River, drives the giant leather bellows, which supplies the continuous blast of air needed to keep the furnace roaring. The waterwheel also lifts the immense 500-pound hammer that pounds the raw pig iron into workable wrought iron bars. Ranger-guided tours often feature demonstrations, allowing visitors to see and hear this machinery come to life (I got to see just that when I visited).
While the site is a testament to technological achievement, it is also a reminder of the initial environmental damage inflicted by industry. The Saugus River, which provided the vital power source, was dammed and altered. Furthermore, the massive need for charcoal required the rapid felling of local timber, and the constant dumping of slag (waste material) into the river itself had a clear ecological impact, setting the stage for future conflicts with the farmers who lived there.
Bringing Down the Hammer
Established around 1646 and known as Hammersmith, the Saugus Iron Works was an enormous undertaking for the young Massachusetts Bay Colony, driven by the need for locally produced iron goods like kettles, tools, and nails. To manage the complexity and labor demands, the owners—known as the Undertakers—had to bring in a diverse workforce.The labor force was a contentious mix. Highly skilled English workers were recruited, but they often clashed with the rigid Puritan society of Lynn, facing arrests for everything from public drunkenness to wearing fine clothes. Crucially, a significant portion of the workforce consisted of Jacobite Scotsmen captured during the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. These prisoners of war were transported across the Atlantic and forced into a harsh system of indentured servitude to toil in the new ironworks. Valued at about £10 each, these Scots performed grueling tasks like woodcutting to supply the colliers (who made the charcoal) and working as forge hands, living in separate quarters and slowly integrating into an often hostile new world.
The industrial operation itself fueled intense local conflict. The damming of the Saugus River to create the necessary power for the waterwheels led to lawsuits and bitter disputes with local farmers and townspeople. The altered water flow caused flooding on others' property and damaged crops, creating a wave of litigation that was so persistent and oppressive that it played a major role in the ironworks’ financial ruin and ultimate closure around 1670. Mismanagement, high labor costs, and this steady stream of lawsuits, rather than just material shortages, proved to be the industrial complex's final undoing.
From Saugus to the Underdark
For the DM, the Saugus Iron Works makes a perfect template for a living, breathing, and conflicted industrial dwarven settlement.- Workforce & Production: To run a full-scale operation—including the blast furnace (for pig iron), the forge (for wrought iron and merchant bars), the rolling and slitting mill (for nail rods), and all the support systems (colliers, miners, woodcutters)—a medieval-era works might require a core operational team of fifty to seventy skilled dwarves on-site, plus hundreds more in the surrounding resource industry. The dwarves running the bellows and the hammer would be strong, highly disciplined crews, working in brutal, rotating shifts to keep the waterwheels spinning.
- The Relentless Core: The most important detail for a fantasy setting is the Blast Furnace. Historically, these furnaces were notoriously difficult and expensive to start up. Once lit, they could not be allowed to cool down, as the temperature change would irreparably damage the furnace lining. As a result, the Saugus furnace was kept burning 24 hours a day, for months at a time. For a dwarven citadel, the directive is clear: the forge never sleeps. Any threat to the water supply, the charcoal fuel lines, or the skilled crew becomes a world-ending catastrophe for the dwarves, whose entire society is built on this continuous flame.
- The Farmer/Dwarf Conflict: The historical tension with the Puritan farmers translates perfectly to the classic fantasy trope of Dwarves versus Surface Dwellers (Elves/Farmers). The dwarves dam the local river for industrial power, creating floods and pollution that ruin the Elven groves or human farmers' crops. The townspeople resent the constant noise, the smoke, and the aggressive business practices of the dwarven ironmaster, leading to constant lawsuits (or, in a D&D game, sabotage, and assassination attempts) instead of court proceedings. This tension offers endless plot hooks: the party must escort a dwarven merchant bar shipment past an angry lynch mob of flood-damaged farmers, or they must investigate the sabotage of a vital water sluice gate.
Forged in History
Walking the grounds of the Saugus Iron Works is an experience. You can hear the rhythmic thump of the hammer, witness the rush of water through the machines, and imagine the sheer volume of pig iron and finished products—hinges, tools, and bars—moving out to the world. Incorporating this relentlessly grinding, 24/7 industry, with its historical mix of subjugated workers and crippling external conflict, will make any fantasy forge—from a hidden underground dwarven city to a chaotic, steam-powered human metropolis—feel grounded and gritty.I did just that by incorporating all these ideas (including the above pictures) into the fantasy town of Hammersmith in my campaign world. My group of players are currently learning through experience just how much trouble dwarven industry can bring to fantasy farmland.
