I think the monkeys at the zoo should have to wear sunglasses so they can't hypnotize you. | -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
Sampson Harmon
(Julia A. Purnell Museum)
Nestled in the heart of the Pocomoke Forest is one of the oldest iron furnaces in the country. This structure, which is still standing, has come to be called, Furnace Town. A short jaunt north of Snow Hill, MD will bring you to the now public site. In its day, the furnace was used to process bog ore that was gathered from enormous beds in the Nassawango Swamp. The town consisted of about 25 homes which housed around 100 workers. However, with technology ever growing, the furnace was only open for 20 years.
One of the more well known citizens of this town was Sampson Hat, a black man that lived to be 106 years old and was said to be fast enough to run down a deer and able to swim in the water well enough to catch an otter. [Bob Fisher, 4/18/98] It is said that he was stronger than any man and didn't even wear shoes in the winter. After all the other workers left to find employment elsewhere, Sampson Hat stayed behind to live in an old log cabin. He had a pet cat, which he was quite fond of, named Tom. After he grew to the old age of 100, he became ill and was taken away to be cared for. It is said that his dying wish was to be back home with Tom, his cat. After his death, he was buried near the alms house.
To this day, people who frequent the nighttime walks at Furnace Town report seeing his ghost sitting on the porch of one of the old log cabins with his black cat.
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