The Village Blacksmith

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Pages:
1. The Poem
2. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
3. Original 1839 Manuscript
4. The Children’s Gift to Longfellow
5. Village Blacksmith Art

Village Blacksmith Art

This sketch of the blacksmith shop on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts was drawn by Longfellow himself in 1840. He passed this
blacksmith shop every day on his way to Harvard College and based his
poem on it. Below the image he wrote the first two verses of the poem:

“Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;”

Vintage Postcard

Vintage postcard by Bamforth. Postmarked 1909 in London, England

The Village Blacksmith in His Smithy
(artist unknown)

The Village Blacksmith
by Estelle Hollingsworth

The Village Blacksmith
by George T. Andrew

Souvenir postcard of the Colonial Village
at the 1934 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago

Sketch by William O. Stevens
from his book “Discovering Long Island”

Blacksmith and Child
artist unknown

Postcard of The Cock Horse, home of the Village Blacksmith
in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Longfellow’s poem.
by Tichnor Bros.

Check out our unique collection of
Paintings, Sketches and Photos
depicting the history of blacksmithing.

October's Meeting in 2014

John Perilloux demonstrated how to craft tenons with a guillotine tool at October's meeting. To read more and view videos of the demonstration, click here.

Discoveries

Glen Wesley, a longtime member of the Gulf Coast Blacksmith Association, has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).

As the disease progressed he began having difficulty feeding himself. He asked Sid Gale to help him design a device that would enable him to continue feeding himself without assistance.

They discussed it, made a few sketches and headed out to the shop. Discover how they designed and developed an Assisted Eating Device.

The 2012 Brian Brazeal Tool Workshop in October was a huge success. Watch as he makes tooling and forges a hammer head from round stock.

Chuck highly recommends Peter Ross' insightful Keynote Address at the 1998 ABANA Conference on the emergence of "machine mentality" over "hand mentality".

Ross was the Master Blacksmith at Colonial Williamsburg from 1979 to 2004.

See our coverage of Fire in the Swamp 2012, a one-stop shop for demos on forging, iron and pewter casting, and pottery crafts.

Did this creature crawl out of the bayou behind Buddy’s shop? See Sid Gale's Gator, featured at our February meeting.

GCBA provided demonstrations at the 2012 Arboretum Day.

A leaf key ring begins at the end of a bar.

Watch Brian Brazeal show us how it's done at our January meeting.

See Phil Love demonstrate the craft at Colonial Day, an annual event at St. Edward the Confessor School in Metairie.

Students dressed in period costume and took part in various events reminiscent of early America life.

Watch our GCBA demonstrators do their magic at the 26th Scottish Highland Games & Celtic Music Festival.

Discover some very interesting metal art at one of the most unusual festivals in the country, the Bush Tractor Festival.

Chuck recommends the article Of Iron & Stagecraft by Trenton Ty, from the current edition of The Iron Trillium, a publication of the Ontario Artist Blacksmith Association.

Let renowned metal artist Valentin Yotkov introduce you to the ancient art of Ornamental Chasing And Repoussé: The Magic of Sculpting in Metal.

This excerpt from his upcoming book is an excellent primer on adding Repoussé and Chased items to your work.

GCBA President Chuck Robinson was profiled by the Picayune Item newspaper in an in-depth article, Local Blacksmith, Chuck Robinson, on the Art of Blacksmithing.

Read the Craftpersons Profile of GCBA Chairman Larry House in the Folklife & Folk Artist Directory of the Mississippi Arts Commission.

Read the biographical article on GCBA member Glen Wesley, featured in Neighbors—The Lifestyle Magazine.

Check out Tim LeMien's creative restoration of an antique fire pot.

Check out our unique collection of Period Sketches, Paintings and Photos depicting blacksmithing throughout history.

Discover The Legend of The Iron Worker and King Solomon and the extraordinary metal engraving by John Sartain depicting the blacksmith who challenged the great artisans at the dedication banquet of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Browse our collection of Vintage Art styled after the classic American poem, The Village Blacksmith, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Check out our ABANA page for links to current ABANA News Topics and sections of the ABANA website most relevant to GCBA members.

Chuck Robinson recommends the new Bronze Casting Manual written by Olivier Duhamel of New Zealand, on low-cost bronze lost wax casting of small projects.