Included are a large 2+1⁄2-story Federal/Greek Revival house constructed about 1835 as the residence of the furnace owner; a frame dwelling of about the same date which probably accommodated a manager or clerk; a 2+1⁄2-story company store and hotel or dormitory for furnace workers; two 19th-century outbuildings, possibly slave quarters; and a mid-19th-century brick duplex worker's dwelling.

In 1753 a law was enacted to prevent the further filling in of the Patapsco River's shipping channel at Elkridge Landing and up to Baltimore.

The turning waterwheel drove a gear shift that powered the bellows which fanned the forge's charcoal fire.

[6] Benjamin, Jonathan, Elias, George, Charles, and Thomas Ellicott from Pennsylvania created the Avalon Iron Works in 1822, purchasing Dorsey's Forge and the Elkridge Furnace land.

The same year the Ellicott's furnace operations were foreclosed on by the Maryland Bank after iron prices dropped drastically.