The Craft of a Blacksmith

Let’s go back to a time when local craftsmen worked in North Fork establishments that offered them the way to serve their community in a special and rewarding business. Let’s place our irons in the fire and take a peek.

Among the first trades practiced in Southold were blacksmiths, according to Blacksmiths in Southold and Vicinity by Frances Booth Petty. The word “blacksmith” means a worker in the black metal — iron. Blacksmith shops dotted the early colonial settlement when the blacksmith was considered the most essential member of the community, ranking next to the minister.

Blacksmith James Fanning was an ardent Patriot who refused to shoe any of the enemy horses during the Revolutionary War. According to an East Hampton Library document, one day an unlucky Hessian orderly led his master’s to Mr. Fanning’s blacksmith shop to be shod. Mr. Fanning realized the horse was approaching and prepared his forge for shoeing but the fire had died down under the forge. He piled on fresh coal and added gunpowder on top but did not use the available bellows. Mr. Fanning proclaimed that any horseshoeing of a British horse would have to be done by a Hessian. The orderly gave a mighty tug on the bellows himself, which offered James Fanning a quick exit. “…and some British soldier found himself without horseshoe — horse — or orderly!”

William Salmon was an early blacksmith in Arshamomoque. In that same hamlet in the 1800s, Ezra Horton, son of blacksmith James Horton, a direct descendant of industrious first settler Barnabas, did not like to toil at blacksmithing (or anything else)!

The blacksmithing Morrell brothers from the 1800s are to be celebrated. John Morrell was born in Middle Village (Queens) Long Island and moved to Peconic from Sag Harbor. He took over the business after the death of Gustave Fields and built a shop on the corner of Main Road and Peconic Lane. Mr. Morrell came from a family of famous iron makers. Rufus and Melville, Mr. Morrell’s sons, worked with their father. The family has various articles that were made by Rufus Morrell, who was clever in carrying out the Morrell family tradition.

Southolder Henry Cleveland went to Massachusetts as a young man and learned the blacksmith trade. On his return, he took in William H. Glover as a partner in 1876. Mr. Cleveland was a famous shoer and Mr. Glover a second, having the reputation of being able to shod 35 horses in 37 hours. Frank Gagen joined the blacksmith partners to form the Cleveland-Glover-Gagen Blacksmith Shop. Gagen bought the business in 1921 and ran it until 1941. His tasks over the years as a blacksmith required him to work at his anvil six days a week. He bent, twisted, drilled and pounded iron into every shape and size imaginable for farm implement , among other tasks, including shoeing all of the saddle horses at Pinecrest Dunes Camp! The business that had been known for its 130-year run stood in its same location on West Main Street in Southold. Mrs. Frank Gagen donated the old shop to the Southold Historical Society in 1975. Demonstrations are held on the historical society museum grounds each May during Step Back in History Week when Southold youngsters swarm the complex to experience the blacksmith of yesteryear. Each year on the day after Thanksgiving during the society’s Candlelight Tour is another opportunity where one can witness the craftsmanship.

Paul Nossolik came to the North Fork after World War I to work with his cousin Charles Meyer, the Greenport village blacksmith. Nossolik had served in his country’s during the war where he forged various steel implements required by the then vibrant marine industry that included scallop dredges, clam rakes, chipping hammers for shipyards, plus other small metal tools. He started his blacksmithing trade at the age of 14.

Mayor Stephen Clarke remembers Nossolik as one of the first people he met when he came to Greenport. This particular village blacksmith practiced his skill the old-fashioned way. It is rewarding to know that Mayor Clarke, the owner of Greenport Yacht and Shipbuilding, employed Nossolik at the shipyard during World War II. Also worthy of note: Nossolik was profiled by various publications that include National Geographic.

According to a November 18, 1993 Suffolk Times article, “Nossolik labored in his little weather-beaten shack on a tiny lot along Texaco Alley just south of Front Street near the harbor.” His workshop is listed in the National Register of Historic Places but was destroyed during the December 1992 Nor’easter.

A Greenport village committee was formed to title of Nossolik’s shop. The plan was to use timbers from the shop to recreate the building, possibly as a working museum. But it was unsuccessful.

Greenport Village Historian Jerry McCarthy recalled, “People used to come from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn to buy his anchors.” Nossolik was honored with his own corner at Chowder Pot Pub in Greenport “where the white wooden sign to his smithy shop is displayed with other memorabilia.” He also had another tribute paid him. He received a scale-model of his blacksmith shop as a present on his 95th birthday in 1993 constructed by East Marion artist Otto Schoenstein.

Paul Nossolik died of congestive heart failure just shy of his 96th birthday. Artist Richard Fiedler created something special by producing an oil canvas of Paul Nossolik (“The Blacksmith”) at his anvil and donated the proceeds from the sale of the prints toward the shop museum. He said it was a nice way to keep Paul Nossolik’s memory alive.

A remarkable replica of Paul Nossolik’s one-room shop was discovered on a parcel behind the East Marion Post Office. According to a January 9, 1997 Suffolk Times article, officials with the East End Marine Foundation contacted realtor/developer Herbert Mandel, the owner of the parcel. Mr. Mandel was kind enough to donate the barn structure “in connection with the group’s efforts to create a blacksmith shop somewhere in the village.”

The Maritime Foundation needed to find a location for its museum before the building could be moved. Roughly $10,000 was estimated to move the building to the village. Greenport artist Richard Fiedler once again came through by donating half the proceeds from the sale of his prints of the late Paul Nossolik at his anvil.

In the summer of 2001, the replicated blacksmith shop opened in Mitchell Park with Yaphank farrier John Visser taking up the reins.

In a Suffolk Times article Mr. Visser stated: “This is a dream come true for me.” Mr. Visser’s ancestors were nurserymen who used horses and mules to cultivate their land. When Mr. Visser was 13, he met Jimmy LaBue, a well-known Long Island blacksmith. Mr. Vissser apprenticed under Mr. LaBue after service. He was able to develop his skills until the time was right for him to go out on his own.

This article makes an interesting point: “In England, there’s a five-year apprenticeship to become a smithy, but in the United States, there are no specific requirements.” Mr. Visser remarked that it generally takes a few years to learn the craft before one becomes good enough to shoe stable horses. He said, “With time and experience, you can eventually work major horse shows.” John Visser, the farrier, remarked that the tools and even some techniques have gotten better over the years. “The basics remain the same as they were years ago.” That means the basics are just like the ones when Paul Nossolik operated the original Greenport shop. Some of Mr. Nossolik’s work still hangs in the blacksmith replica on Mitchell Park.

In 1855, Riverhead native Daniel Terry located to Southold and built a blacksmith shop on the corner of Mechanic and Prince Streets (now called Mechanic Street East). It was taken over by Spencer W. Petty in the early 1900s. In 1919 his son Wilbur went to work for him. The old shop was taken down in 1933. The Pettys built another shop on the west side of Mechanic Street. Spencer Petty’s brother-in-law, John Turner of Passaic, N.J., helped build the shop and a lot of the old equipment was moved into it. Among some of the work done was fitting and nailing on of horseshoes. Petty shod from 75 to 100 horses a week. This was done in the days before motorized machinery! For the Pettys, farm horses, saddle horses and race horses were shod with a set of shoes lasting about a month.

February 1959 saw 82-year-old Spencer W. Petty turn over his glowing blacksmith shop business that he founded 55 years prior to his son, Wilbur. The shop had turned out “Petty-designed” clam tongs and rakes for baymen in addition to machinery repairs and ornamental iron work over its tremendous years in business. “They (the Pettys) helped perfect a type of Eagle Claw clam rake and basket clam rake.” According to a February 2, 1959 New York Times article, “Horseshoeing and wagon work were abandoned by the blacksmithing Pettys about 20 years ago with the coming of tractors and trucks to the Island’s farms.” The Petty shop closed on Saturday morning, September 9, 1972 but the building still stands.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith is part of an original June 10, 1933 newspaper clipping that includes a picture of an old-time blacksmith. The print was drawn by Thomas Worth and printed by Currier & Ives in 1868. There have been countless changes since that picture first appeared. The dirt roads are gone and have been replaced by thousands of miles of concrete over which automobiles roll. The horse and buggy is gone as well. The village blacksmith is a thing of the past but the lost art of the blacksmith will never be forgotten. “Strike while the iron is red hot.”

S. P. Hedges

S. P. Hedges was born in Bridgehampton on September 18, 1846. He learned the blacksmithing and machinist trade. He moved to Greenport, and along with William Shipman, he opened a blacksmithing and machine business.[1]

“In 1876 he patented an eel spear which was used extensively by fishermen along the coast. When the menhaden fishing business was at its height, Mr. Hedges patented a press for the extraction of fish oil which proved so valuable to that trade that it was universally adopted by the various fish factories.” [2] S. P. Hedges also sold “coil boilers” (“when boilers are constructed of wrought iron or steel in all their parts”).[3] S. P. Hedges was also a patentee and manufacturer of boiler and machine works that included steam and hot water heating apparatus.[4] In February 1899, Bicycle Path and Sidewalk Levelers and Rollers were available from S. P. Hedges.[5]

“{He} opened the first garage in Greenport and was the owner and driver of the first automobile owned by a local resident.” [6] S. P. Hedges had a Ford Dealership located at 13 Main Street in Greenport.[7] S. P. Hedges motor car and machine shop was sold to O. Judd Webb, formerly connected with W. W. De Bovoise of Brooklyn in 1908. “The new purchaser will continue to do business under the old name.” [8]

He was President of the Greenport Board of Education and also served as a Trustee of Greenport village. Mr. Hedges had an interest in the oyster industry and “was one of the organizers and president(s) of the Greenport Sewage Company.” [9]

There’s a story that goes: “S. P. Hedges and Capt. H. H. Lupton left Brooklyn Sunday morning with a new automobile, expecting to reach Greenport that night. The machine broke down at Blue Point, Patchogue and Mattituck, refusing to leave the last village. Mr. Hedges took the train and reached Greenport on Monday, but the Captain would not leave the machine and hired a team of horses to bring it to Greenport which he reached Tuesday night.” [10]

[1] July 15, 1927 Suffolk Times obituary courtesy of Jeff Walden at the Mattituck-Laurel Library.

[2] July 15, 1927 Suffolk Times obituary courtesy of Jeff Walden at the Mattituck-Laurel Library.

[3] 1888 General Rules and Regulations Prescribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steam-Vessels As Amended.

[4] November 9, 1889 South Side Signal.

[5] January-June 1899 Water and Sewage Works Volume XVI.

[6] July 15, 1927 Suffolk Times obituary courtesy of Jeff Walden at the Mattituck-Laurel Library.

[7] 1909 Motor Cyclopaidia … Year Book.

[8] January 2, 1908 Motor Age Vol. XIII No. 1.

[9] July 15, 1927 Suffolk Times obituary courtesy of Jeff Walden at the Mattituck-Laurel Library.

[10] November 1903 Long Island Traveler.

He was married to Mary B. Smith of Sag Harbor and then to his second wife, Miss Katherine Chester of Shelter Island. They had three children. “Funeral services were held at the late residence on Main Street on July 13, {1927}. Interment was in Sterling Cemetery.”