of charcoal, good sand, limestone in the nearby hills and ore near Indian Lake to the north, was an ideal site. The Sharon Valley Iron Company's (SVI) cold blast furnace employed 12 at first, enough to make it the town's largest employer by the 1850 census. Over time they built six houses for their workers, a barn, and the Carpenter Gothic office at the center of the district, today the Valley Tavern. They also likely ran the lime kiln as a sideline to their main business. A few years after SVI established its furnace, Asahel Hotchkiss began his malleable iron works behind his house at 53 Sharon Valley Road. He formed partnerships with other local entrepreneurs, and by 1850 he, too, was a major local employer, with that year's census counting nine workers and valuing his annual production at $25,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). His son Andrew invented the exploding artillery shell, a weapon that proved useful to the Union Army in the American Civil War. By the time the conflict began the Hotchkisses had moved to a new plant at the junction of Indian Lake Creek and Sharon Valley Road. The 1860 census records Hotchkiss & Sons along with the closely related Jewett Manufacturing Company employing 87. SVI went to hot blast production in 1863. After the war Hotchkiss moved to Bridgeport. The Jewett operations remained in the valley, and employed 48 in 1879. Demand declined late in the century. SVI sold out to Barnum & Morehouse in 1898, and the lime kiln and furnace shut down around two years later. Significant contributing properties Berlin Bridge over Webutuck Creek along Sharon Station Road. A lenticular truss bridge built by the Berlin Bridge Company in 1880 and shipped to the area for installation by local residents. It is considered the most visually distinctive of the three bridges in the district. Asahel Hotchkiss House, 53 Sharon Valley Road. One of the oldest houses in the district was the residence of one of its major entrepreneurs. Lime kiln ruins along Sharon Station Road at Webutuck Creek. A stone foundation and some blocks are the most that remain of any of Sharon Valley's industrial production facilities. Valley Tavern, 34 Sharon Valley Road. The Sharon Valley Iron Company used this distinctive Carpenter Gothic house at the Sharon Station Road intersection as their office. Abel Woods House, 36 Sharon Valley Road. Local lore dates this