Blacksmith shop
The blacksmith shop is open during the mill visitor season in the spring and fall. Our volunteer smiths heat iron with the coal-fired forge, and shape it with hammer, tong, and anvil to demonstrate traditional blacksmithing for visitors.
The blacksmith shop is in the lower level of the timber-framed building along the mill tailrace, just east of the mill building. The original building on this site had by the 1970s totally deteriorated except for part of the stone foundation. The foundation was excavated and repaired, and the oak timber frame constructed using traditional building techniques. The new blacksmith shop was opened for visitors around 1980.
The original shop was last operated by Horace Main, the father of Harry Main, the last private owner of the mill property. Horace's grandson, Philetus Watson, recalled that when he was a boy in the 1930s, he visited Horace's farm and the blacksmith shop there. The building was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane.
Hammers to Ring Again at Ledyard Smithy, Norwich Bulletin, May 2, 1976.