German Friends at the Blacksmith Shop!

Four great friends of our family visited from Germany this summer.  They returned for a 25 year reunion of their first trip to Watertown.  Paul, Norbert, Andreas, and Burkhard came as student Engineers to the Watertown Air Brake Company in 1989.

They returned with their families.  We had a great reunion with them and the Sheen family, other Watertown friends that now live out of the area.

Everyone came to our house for a great party.  There was food, swimming, kayaking in the river, and lots of conversation.  It was wonderful to see everyone and to meet in person everyone's families!

We even got to do some Blacksmithing!  I had some wonderful Apprentices!

We are fortunate to have Norbert's daughter, Lena, staying with us for a couple of months.  Welcome Lena!

Blacksmithing at the Great New York State Fair!

The E. N. Harris Blacksmith Shop was in operation from 1890 until the early 1960's.  Albert and Elmer Harris ran it in the 20th century.  It has been preserved as part of the Jared VanWagonen Carriage Museum on the grounds of the New York State Fair in Syracuse, NY.

I have had the good fortune to demonstrate there a day or two for the last several years during the run of the Fair.  Their shop was in Williamstown, NY.  It specialized in farm tools, horse shoeing, and wagon repair.  The shop at the Fair is a wonderful time capsule of this type of shop.  Shops like this were the backbone of rural business and industry.

Each day several thousand people go through the Carriage Museum that contains the shop.  The best part is every time I demonstrate one of Albert and Elmer's Grandchildren or Great-Grandchildren visits the shop!  It is nice to be part of carrying on the Harris Blacksmith Shop tradition!

It is located in the Jared VanWagonen Carriage Museum.  There are great wagons, tools, and horse-drawn sleighs in the building.  I like the blacksmith wagon.  It is like an industrial grade kid's wagon for real farm use.

I like Doug's Chuckwagon too!  He restored it and brings it as part of a demonstration of what a working cattle drive or chuckwagon looked like.  

It is fully stocked with tools, historic food crates and boxes, and gear.  Harness the team, it is ready to go!