Edgecomb Historical Society searches for place to store blacksmith shop relics
Town history enthusiasts, from left, Sarah Koopus, Roz Strong, Mike Smith and Zibette Dean inspected historic journals and other artifacts on April 23 following the Edgecomb Historical Society’s monthly meeting. The society announced it was looking for storage space for a recent historic find. The EHS needs additional storage for an intact blacksmith shop from the late 19th century. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
Town history enthusiasts, from left, Sarah Koopus, Roz Strong, Mike Smith and Zibette Dean inspected historic journals and other artifacts on April 23 following the Edgecomb Historical Society’s monthly meeting. The society announced it was looking for storage space for a recent historic find. The EHS needs additional storage for an intact blacksmith shop from the late 19th century. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
The Edgecomb Historical Society is searching for a place to house relics from a 19th century blacksmith shop. Two years ago, the society was notified that an intact blacksmith shop was found on an Edgecomb property.
The shop is believed to have belonged to an ancestor of Moses Davis who was an original settler of Edgecomb. According to Historical Society President Sue Carlson, the blacksmith shop dates back to the 1880s.
When the shop was discovered in 2013, the EHS inspected it with a local historian who estimated the works’ age.
Carlson said when the shop was first inspected it was like visiting the past.
“It looks like you stepped back in time to the 1880s. We toured the shop and it was just amazing. It was like somebody shut the door in 1880 and never went back,” Carlson said.
The shop is filled with tools, a fire and cooling pit, chimney, an anvil’s block, and a pair of large intact bellows. The society wants to preserve all the equipment, but the find adds to a perennial problem. The society already lacks space to house the historic artifacts and documents in its collection.
The society met April 23 to consider options for finding adequate storage space. Carlson told the committee she expected the process to be lengthy and expensive. The society’s quest to find storage space is called “The Smithy Project.” The society nominated a three-person committee to seek out grant options for funding the project.
The society nominated Dave Boucher, Gary Spurgat and John Brennan to the committee.
The EHS declined to identify the property’s location out of concerns about possible theft and vandalism.
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