When the 1783 Treaty of Paris gave Florida back to Spain, David Morran returned to England but left his wife in St. Augustine to manage the sale of his properties.

[1] The Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board began the reconstruction of the Blacksmith Shop in late 1967 and completed it in 1968.

[2] The Preservation Board's in-house construction crew built the 12 x 16 foot wooden outbuilding from pine logs that were cut with a broad axe and adze, in accordance with the historic construction methods that would have been used at the time.

The board wanted to closely replicate the experience of an 18th-century shop and installed a double forge.

Visitors could watch the blacksmith, who was a descendant of early Minorcan settlers, making horseshoes and doing more intricate ironwork for other Preservation Board properties.