Spending some time in Washington DC last week, my wife and I went to Mt. Vernon to visit George Washington’s estate. After we bought our tickets to the view of the house, we had some time to kill, so we walked around the grounds to see what else was around.

On the right side of the estate near the near the back, was the blacksmith shop. It appeared to be about 15′ x 20′ in size.

We arrived in front and saw one of the blacksmiths making a large hinge. You can see how soaked his shirt is as it was nearly 90 degrees that day. He must lose twenty pounds during the summer working in there.

Here’s a shot of the bench with a scrap iron on the ground waiting for use.

Here are some of the items the blacksmiths make at the estate. What’s really cool is they make axe heads and other tools.

On the side of the shop sat a bin full of coal which stank to high heaven. The smell of burning coal is not a pleasant thing.

I looked around the other buildings for a carpentry or cabinet shop, but found nothing. I find it odd that Washington didn’t have one on his estate somewhere. The only thing I saw was display case inside the museum with this panel raising plane.