Blacksmith Museum & Depot

Betty made arrangements for us to tour of the local blacksmith shop here in Abbeville.  How interesting.

The Sam Guarino’s Blacksmith Shop was in operation from 1913 to 2004 servicing mostly the farmers in the area.

           

Mr. Guarino made stretchers for nutria skins to a counting machine kind of like using an abacus using used spools of thread.

We were given the tour by the grandson of one of the blacksmith’s workers. Here he explains how the forge was built.

The shop was originally located a couple of blocks

away and was moved to it’s present location complete with the original dirt floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the interior is dusty the shop is actually still operational which we witnessed when they turned on the generator and all the belt driven machinery came to life.  A couple of belts slipped off the wheels and our guys helped reseat them.

It was fascinating watching the hammer jack actually operational.

                 

Here is a collage of some of the equipment.

This is an example of the refined talent of Sam Guarino.  Look at the intricacy.

 

After visiting the blacksmith shop, Betty called and made arrangements for us to go to the local train depot museum.

I picked up some interesting items in the depot’s gift shop.

So you think we had a full and interesting day sightseeing?  No, mon cheri…….this was just the beginning…after this tour we returned the Betty’s RV Park and had a full blown Crawfish Boil….but that’s for tomorrow’s blog post, so come on back to see what we ate.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind the saying HERE