The Blacksmith Shop

The Blacksmith Shop, a one-room brick structure built about 1800, and its later frame addition, originally stood near the railroad tracks in the village of Shelburne.

In preparation for the move, the building was fitted with a footing of reinforced concrete, braced internally, and jacked up before being rolled onto the bed of a 24-ton trailer, which transported it 2,400 feet (730 m) down Route 7.

[2] 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.

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.