Qualla: Bellona Arsenal https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Bellona Arsenal https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal Bellona Arsenal: Introduction https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal/ Photo credit LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903., Public domain. The name says everything about intent. Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, fierce sister of Mars, lent her name to a weapons foundry carved into the Virginia countryside fourteen miles west of Richmond. Established in 1810 on the south shore of the James River by U.S. Attorney General William Wirt and Army Major John Clarke, the Bellona Foundry began life casting weapons for the young republic's War Department. Within six years the federal government built an arsenal next door to store the growing stockpile of cannon. For the next half-century, through peace and civil war, these buildings above the fall line of the James would shape iron into instruments of destruction for whichever government held the land.

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Image: LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/dq8v-bellona-arsenal-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Bellona Arsenal: The Foundry on the Fall Line https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal/ Photo credit LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903., Public domain. Major Clarke chose the site well. The fall line of the James River provided water power and a natural boundary between the navigable tidewater and the rugged Piedmont above. The foundry hummed with the work of casting cannon barrels, and by 1816 the Army erected Bellona Arsenal i...

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Image: LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/dq8v-bellona-arsenal-the-foundry-on-the-fall-line.mp3 0:06 2 full Bellona Arsenal: From Silkworms to Secession https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal/ Photo credit LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903., Public domain. By 1837 the War Department declared Bellona Arsenal surplus. The irony was thick: a temple to the goddess of war temporarily became a silkworm farm when Thomas Randolph leased the empty buildings. When Major Clarke died in 1844, oversight of the foundry passed to Dr. Junius L. Ar...

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Image: LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/dq8v-bellona-arsenal-from-silkworms-to-secession.mp3 0:06 3 full Bellona Arsenal: Stone Walls and Silence https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal/ Photo credit LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903., Public domain. The end came quickly after the war. By 1872 the owners demolished the barracks, officers' quarters, and one workshop. Only three of the original eight quadrangle buildings and the powder magazine survived. The property was sold in 1877 and changed hands several times, each new ow...

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Image: LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/dq8v-bellona-arsenal-stone-walls-and-silence.mp3 0:06 4 full Bellona Arsenal: A Road Called Old Gun https://qualla.com/bellona-arsenal/ Photo credit LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903., Public domain. Bellona Arsenal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971, securing its place in the official record of American heritage. But the neighborhood had already written its own tribute. The road that runs through the Robious area of Chesterfield County, wher...

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Image: LaPrade, J. E. (Joseph Edgar), 1845-1903. | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/bellona-arsenal-wp/dq8v-bellona-arsenal-a-road-called-old-gun.mp3 0:06 5 full