l. storehouse for iron
This animation shows the construction of a metals workshop and the forge, anvil, and nailrod needed to run a small nailery.
Workshop for tinsmithing and nail-making, and living quarters for enslaved workers
ca. 1790–ca. 1830
Built around 1793, this 16 x 10.5-foot log structure was primarily “used as a storehouse for nailrod & other iron.” For a brief period in the 1790s, it was the site of a tinsmithing operation containing an anvil and forge. Isaac Granger Jefferson, trained by a Philadelphia tinsmith, recalled that he “carried on the tin business two years” before it failed. Archaeological evidence suggests that this structure also functioned as a small-scale nail-making operation and as living quarters for enslaved workers after the War of 1812.
Enslaved tinsmith:
- Isaac Granger Jefferson (b. 1775), ca. 1794
Add comment