What is coke?
A coke oven is an oven coal was heated in to turn it into coke. Coke is made by heating coal at high temperatures (1650 F to 2000 F) for a long time (15-36 hours depending on the composition of the coal) through a process called thermal distillation. I have heard it equated to baking. Coal is a primary fuel source. Coke is a secondary fuel source. The advantages of coke are that it gives off intense heat with little to no smoke. These ovens have a tunnel that runs under them. Those tunnels were used to heat the coal. The coal was put into the hole at the top. The coke was harvested aka "pushed" from the open side. Coke is necessary for the manufacturing of steel upon which we are heavily reliant. It not only melts the ore, but it also removes the O2 to make the iron "pure." You could see where the chemical changes from the heat had left a glass-like sheen on the bricks. Across the street was a mine entrance and more coke ovens, but the brush was thick and full of poison ivy so we left it alone. I learned later that there is a nice hike up a steep old railroad grade that goes to a pretty waterfall, so we may go back and explore more. There were a couple of places to camp at the end of the road right next to a small waterfall. We also found some evidence of campfires inside some of the ovens. There are something like 150 ovens in this area from what I was told.
