The Old Blacksmith Shop

There is no documentation of when the
blacksmith shop was built but the building is
recorded as “Shop” on an 1858 map of the area.
The structure measures 31 by 29 feet and sits on
stone piers. It is constructed in the scribe-rule post
and beam style with a purlin roof system.
Its gable roof is covered with modern cedar
shingles and its interior forge chimney was
rebuilt in the 1980’s. The exterior of the shop is
covered in horizontal wide-board planking.
There are 9 over 6 double-hung windows on the
north, west, and south sides and a 12 over 12-pane
sliding casement on the east side over a
workbench in the forge bay. There are large doors
at both ends of the center bay, another large door
for access to the ox sling, and a small door in the
center of the gable wall next to the forge.
Parts of the original forge remain, as does the old
hand-operated leather bellows, which was
restored in 2014 using the flexible hide of
antelope. There is a nineteenth-century ox sling
in the southeast bay of the building attesting to
the use of oxen in the area and the need to shoe
them in the winter.