The formal dedication of the Glidden Homestead’s Blacksmith Shop is today, Sunday October 24th, with regular tour hours from noon-4 p.m. Several years of intense volunteer labor, with financial support from both local and state grants, culminated in the opening earlier this year of the working Blacksmith Shop at the Glidden Homestead and Historical Center.
The Blacksmith Shop is located in the former Mill House behind the Homestead. Chris Hubbard is the head blacksmith and he will demonstrate his craft during this event. Hubbard has been working with the Glidden board for a few years on plans to establish the Blacksmith Shop. Ultimately, he will give regularly scheduled demonstrations and offer classes there.
From forge to blowers, anvils to antique metal-working tools, the Glidden Blacksmith shop is fully equipped with the tools of the blacksmithing trade. Attendees on Oct. 24, will watch as a blacksmith works, repeatedly pounding a piece of iron with ultimate patience – from fire to hammer on anvil and back again. Within minutes, he will produce razor sharp knives, whimsical serpents or other popular items.
As the blacksmith works, the ringing sound of metal hammered against anvil will give the audience the sense of being transported back in time—to the era when blacksmith Phineas Vaughan helped Joseph Glidden turn an ordinary coffee grinder into a barbed-wire making machine.
“Music on the Porch,” from 1:30-2:15 p.m., will feature Dave “DK” Kolars and Pete Norman’s “Old Time Country & Blues Revue.”
Also, the DeKalb Public Library will distribute The Call of the Wild as part of its “Big Read” event. To tie-in with The Call of the Wild, the Homestead is creating a special exhibit about Chase Glidden, who went to the Yukon to seek his fortune in the Gold Rush.
The Homestead is the site where Joseph Glidden invented and manufactured “The Winner” barbed wire, for which he received a patent on Nov. 24, 1874. The house and barn built in the 1860s still stand on their original sites and both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Click here for more details about the Glidden Homestead and Blacksmith Shop.
Click Here To Submit A News Tip Or Story