Coventry Forge (Coventryville, Pa.)

Coventry Forge, the second iron works to be built in Pennsylvania, was erected by Samuel Nutt, Sr., and William Branson on French Creek, six miles southwest of present-day Pottstown, ca. 1717/18. Another important ironmaster, Thomas Potts, Jr. (1735-1785), received a half-interest in Coventry from his in-laws Robert and Rebecca Grace in 1764, and later received the other half from his father John Potts. Thomas Potts erected the first blister steel furnace in Pennsylvania during his ownership of Coventry. After Thomas Potts's death in 1785, the forge was rented to George North and John Evans, who ran it through 1791. Thomas Potts's son-in-law, Robert May (1777-1814) purchased the forge in 1792 and ran it until 1796, when he sold it to Jonathan Hudson and Thomas Church.