The Blacksmith Shop

Communities of the 18th and 19th centuries depended heavily on village blacksmiths as their primary source for tools, utensils, agricultural implements, architectural hardware, vehicle parts, and many other items. Many blacksmiths also served as farriers, not only manufacturing shoes for horses and oxen, but outfitting the animals as well.^[1]

In larger communities blacksmiths often worked in conjunction with wheelwrights to manufacture and repair vehicle wheels. Although combination blacksmith-wheelwright shops persisted into the 20th century, their focus gradually changed from the manufacture of one-of-a-kind items to the repair of factory-produced goods. Eventually the availability of mass-produced parts as well as the advent of the automobile age rendered both blacksmiths and wheelwrights obsolete.^[2]

Shelburne Museum's Blacksmith Shop represents the trade as it was practiced at the turn of the 20th century.^[1] Both the efficient, electric blower, which replaced the wood and leather bellows still resting by the forge, and the electric trip hammer enabled smiths, who at that time often found themselves working alone as the apprentice system broke down, to handle larger work without assistance.^[2]

• Shelburne Museum website
• Smithery
• The Blacksmith Shop