THE STORY. occupation as well. As many iron Thank you for your interest in Old Town THE BLACKHAWK tools have wooden handles, these San Diego State Historic Park, part of the “Under a spreading chestnut tree two trades are natural partners. California State Parks system. Inquire at LIVERY STABLE. The village smithy stands; Wood was most commonly used the Robinson-Rose Visitor Information The smith, a mighty man is he, in the construction and furniture Center or visit our website to find With large and sinewy hands; industries. Due to a scarcity of The Blacksmith Shop. wood in California’s coastal additional ways to experience California’s And the muscles of his brawney arms history. Feel free to share your State Park The Woodworking Shop. Are strong as iron bands.” deserts, the Californio homes of families of modest means adventures with us on our Facebook and From The Village Blacksmith did not have much wooden Twitter. #inventyouradventure Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1841. furniture. Many visitors to California in the early 1800s 4002 Wallace St. Iron worked by the blacksmith was vital to remarked that many Californio San Diego, CA 92110 every economic aspect of our society. Besides women would sit on blankets 619-220-5422 making horseshoes, blacksmiths made tools, or rugs on the floor. Russian such as hammers, saws, wrenches, chisels, sailors were particularly www.parks.ca.gov/oldtownsandiego etc. The farmer relied on blacksmiths for welcome because of their shovels, axes, mattocks, and plowshares, woodworking skills. while items for the home included ladles, In the late 1850s wood pots, pans, trivets, and fireplace andirons. became more available When an object broke, the smith would repair in San Diego. At that it. time specialized woodworker When Mexico was under Spanish rule, (carriage maker) and the blacksmith built iron was manufactured in Spain and sent some stagecoaches. to Mexico where it was worked into tools Today when we rent a car we have a choice and implements for California and the rest of vehicles. The same was true when you went of New Spain. There were neighborhoods to a livery stable to hire a wagon and draft of blacksmiths in Mexico City that were animals. Livery stables would board animals engaged in this work. Tools were shipped to and would likely have a variety of animals for California for use in the Missions and Presidios. hire. Horses were fast, but had limitations A blacksmith in California was most often in a coastal desert environment due to their STAY CONNECTED! involved in the maintenance and repair of need for water and feed. Donkeys, also called burros or jackasses, were popular in the West. tools rather than forging entirely new objects. www.facebook.com/oldtownsandiego The first expeditions to Alta California always They are more intelligent than horses, can live www.twitter.com/oldtownsandiego had blacksmiths who taught their trade to almost twice as long, and have hooves that the Indian people at the missions. With the don’t require shoes under most conditions. www.instagram.com/castateparkssd arrival of the Americans and wagons with A mule combines the traits of its horse dam #inventyouradventure and donkey sire. They are more sure-footed, spoke wheels, the blacksmiths shoed horses Date Built: Circa 1868. and refitted iron tires on wagons in addition endure heat better, and can be handled in American. large groups more easily than horses, making Interpretive Period: to repairing tools, farming implements, Rebuilt in 1974. cooking utensils, and weapons. them well-suited for working in Southern Woodworking was a much valued California. Illustrations by Megan Curtis. THE PEOPLE. THE YARD. THE BUILDING. DID YOU KNOW? A blacksmith is a person who creates objects The back yard contains wagons that were John Hinton bought a part of the Casa de Bandini • A horseshoe is said to bring good luck. from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal once used to haul people lot in 1868. The property had a livery stable, which The smith places a horseshoe upside -- heating it and using tools to hammer, bend, and goods long distances. may have once been the servant quarters for the Bandini residence. Hinton used the building as down so that the luck falls out on to his and cut. Blacksmiths played a vital role in the A large collection of part of his Black Hawk Livery. Albert Seeley took tools. settling of San Diego. Records show that there horse-drawn buggies, were two blacksmiths at the Presidio in 1774, it over by 1872 as part of his stagecoach business • Tools were very expensive in the 19th surreys, carts, and carriages headquartered at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Felipe Romero from Guadalajara and José century. A branding iron might take 8- are housed in the two white depot. Manuel Arróyo. The work of the blacksmith 16 hours of labor to forge. What would buildings that line the yard. The building was removed by the early 20th two day’s wages mean for you today? was very diverse. Often they were repairing In 1870, Albert Seeley century and was reconstructed as a museum by metal items the soldiers and settlers brought erected a windmill California State Parks in 1974. • Fireworks have long been a part of with them, traded for, or purchased. When between the barn and It now houses blacksmith and woodworking celebrations. When communities in the raw metal was available, they forged tools, 1800s wanted a noisemaker louder than hotel to pump water shops. You may see these crafts practiced as they farm implements, hardware, cooking utensils, were in the 19th century. a firecracker, they had “anvil firings.” from a well into a cistern horseshoes, wagon wheels and other wagon While it is not certain where the blacksmith One anvil would be placed on top of parts such as springs. located in a covered shop was located in the 1870s, a livery stable and another. A gunpowder charge would An allied trade to the blacksmith was that shed. Its cistern or stagecoach depot would have certainly required the be placed between them. The BOOM of gunsmith. One of the first Filipinos to water storage tank services of blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights, from the explosion was a real attention settle in Alta California was Antonio Miranda held approximately farriers, and harness makers to function. The getter. Rodriquez, a gunsmith born in Manila. He 60 hogsheads blacksmithing and woodworking • Blacksmiths hold hot metal with tongs arrived from Mexico in 1783. of water. It was displays are recreated and form it by hitting with a hammer. John I. Van Alst, a carriage maker and W.D. built to supply here to demonstrate The faster a smith could work, the fewer Brown, a blacksmith, were in business together water for his livestock. As his operation the importance of times he needed to heat metal. This in 1860 in San Diego. The blacksmith was often grew, a second windmill was built where such trades to the led to the phrase “Going at it hammer lives of the a part of the various trades coming together to and tongs” meaning doing something the reconstructed windmill now stands. people of create an industry in the 19th century. fiercely or energetically. Originally designed by William I. Tustin, San Diego in the The 1870 Census listed Benjamin Payson, it featured a self-regulated, 360 degree, 1800s. a blacksmith, his wife, and two children living turning wheel. This allowed the wind to near the Seeley Stable. Living next door was strike the blades at different angles and Eben Brinley, a wheelwright. thus control the speed of their rotation. The CAN YOU FIND? unique design represented a mechanical technology far ahead of its time. At the • Hammer and tongs. time of its reconstruction in 2009, this was • A swage block. the only Tustin style windmill in the world. • Branding irons. • A bellows. Hint: Ask a blacksmith if you can’t find it!