Silversmithing is an interesting craft. It is something I would love to be able to perform myself, but I realize it takes a very steady hand to engrave the intricate designs onto the products. Silver sets were not only a symbol of status to visitors in a person's house, but the pieces could actually be spent or traded for merchandise or cash. One large bowl in the smith's place is valued at over $10,000.
More practical and less precocious products are the ones being produced in the blacksmith's workshop. Piles of black coal are shoveled into the furnace to heat the metal. But don't let the blacksmith's perspiration and coal-smudged countenance fool you: he works hard and invests sore muscles to get his products to the common man. Whether your need is nails, horseshoes, or tools, the blacksmith has something interesting for most of the folks living in and around Colonial Williamsburg.
