Charcoal is one of the most ordinary things you can think of, but its story wasn’t always confined to American grills and backyards.

For a long time, the brick was the lifeblood of the Northeast's iron industry. It fueled furnaces that manufactured everything from weapons of war to iron train wheels.

As Patrick Skahill (@ptskahill) from Here & Now contributor WNPR reports, you can find that history scattered all over Connecticut woods.