To the Tidewater Blacksmith Guild, We are set up to have the next meeting at Island Farm, which is a living history museum (circa 1850) on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. There is a blacksmith shop on the farm that I helped to set up when the museum opened 4 years ago. It is now equipped with a side-draft forge and restored bellows. Island Farm is not real big, but gives a good interpretation of pre-civil war farm life. Check out their website theislandfarm/ The museum is normally closed on Sundays, but the farm managers, Gene and Charlene Staples, will be with us and will open the buildings so we can look around. Gene is a skilled woodworker and aspiring blacksmith. He is the one who actually did the bellows restoration. I think the new venue will offer a good change - there will be the farm to see, plus there is more room for everything we do, including be inside if the weather is bad. Of course the other thing is that it will be a little further to go for folks coming down from VA (16 miles further actually). Directions are pretty simple - go on past my shop at the Co-op (which is milepost 8.5) and keep going until the road forks just past the Tanger Outlet Mall in Nags Head (milepost 16). Take the right fork, which is marked for Rt. 64 to Manteo/Roanoke Island. After you cross the tall bridge onto Roanoke Island, turn right at the second traffic light (next to the CVS store). This will put you on the main street through downtown Manteo. About 4 miles later (by this time you will be past the commercial part of town) you will see a windmill in a pasture on the right and the entrance to the Farm on your left. The GPS address is: 1140 N. US Hwy 64, Manteo, NC 27954. The meeting is to be on November 17th; start at 10:00am, lunch and then Iron-in-the Hat at noon, finish when everybodys gone. Program - Ring of Fire, I have a new talk about the history of the world from a blacksmiths point-of-view (not really a demo), I will have the Bealer anvil as part of two portable forges set up so people can forge on it. Lunch - Hot dogs and Soup (probably) Bring a dessert to share If anybody is thinking about coming down Saturday night there is a hotel in Manteo two miles from the farm, The Elizabethan Inn. There are, of course, lots of places to stay in Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk too. Call me 252.473.1709 if you need anymore info (you will probably have to leave a message). submitted by Randy Hodges
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 21:24:12 +0000
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