Forged in Wood Building Anderson's Blacksmith Shop

James Anderson was a blacksmith and entrepreneur whose shop grew into a small industrial complex just off of the Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg. For Colonial Williamsburg the problem in interpreting this important business was that nothing remained of the shop but some traces of a foundation. Detective work by historians, archaeologists, and architectural historians provided the plans, and Colonial Williamsburg's housewrights did the rest. They built a new eighteenth-century building using the same tools, materials, and skills as their colonial counterparts, and transformed the construction into a hands-on adventure in history for visitors.

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