CW to Reconstruct Where the War Was Forged

By Matt Poms Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Colonial Williamsburg goes to great lengths highlighting the political and social history of the area’s role during the American Revolution. But it is a different aspect of the war against Britain that the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will bring to life with the announced reconstruction of an old industrial complex on Duke of Gloucester Street.

James Anderson’s Blacksmith Shop and Public Armoury once stood on the site of Colonial Williamsburg’s current blacksmith, and will be recreated over a three-year process starting June 1.

“Colonial Williamsburg has the sense of a fairly genteel area; some feel it has the sense of an upper-crust town,” James Horn, Colonial Williamsburg’s Vice President of Research and Historical Interpretation, said. “But Anderson’s was a major industrial site, and that will give our visitors a different perspective on the town, one that they might not be as familiar with.”

The project — spurred by a $4.5 million gift from Forrest E. Mars Jr., a new member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees — will unfold over three stages, beginning with an archaeological dig this summer. That will be followed by construction using period techniques by tradesmen in costume and a finished complex containing a new blacksmith’s shop, tin shop, kitchen and main armory building.

Colonial Williamsburg expects over 300,000 visitors a year at the completed site, and plans to involve guests in the archeological dig and construction process as well.

“In some respects, this will be one of the most exciting and challenging undertakings in the history of the Foundation,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation President Colin Campbell said.

The original complex served as an important piece of the American colonies’ industrial effort in support of the war, creating rifles, bayonets, axes and other tools. James Anderson was appointed Public Armourer by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1776, transforming his small blacksmith’s shop into a massive operation.

In some ways, that transition will mirror Colonial Williamsburg’s, as well; the project will encompass the current blacksmith’s shop midway down Duke of Gloucester Street, one of the most popular stops in the historic section.

That shop was in need of repair, causing the Foundation to explore other possibilities for the site.

“We decided that, given the emphasis we are putting on the revolution and the war itself, this could become one of our only sites solely dedicated to the war years, and that it would be a good opportunity to expand our interpretation to include the public armory and the blacksmiths,” Horn said. “Whenever we have the opportunity to consider a reconstruction, we’re always looking to take it to make the historic area more authentic and more like the period.”

An archaeological dig will begin on June 1, studying the site and examining its historic usage. Construction on the complex itself is expected to commence in October or November, and will be undertaken by Colonial Williamsburg Historic Trades — craftsmen using colonial-era techniques and dressed in costume.

The building process is anticipated to take around 30 months, leading to an opening in late spring 2013.

Both the archaeological and construction phases will be open to the public, and will aim to fit in with the surrounding narrative of life in the colonies during the American Revolution. An online webcam will provide access to those not able to view the project in person.

Once completed, the complex will tell the story of the industrial side of the war, showing how the small, disparate band of colonies was able to defeat the world’s foremost industrial and military power.

“We might take it for granted today, because we know the outcome, but at the time, Virginia and the other colonies were taking on an opponent that vastly outstripped them in terms of resources and power,” Horn said. “It was a power that was infinitely better equipped, militarily, than any of the colonies. So it was quite a considerable undertaking to gear up to produce the kind of hardware and weaponry that was needed to fight and eventually win the war.”

The site will also focus on the varied individuals who came to work there, which included local tradesmen, French armourers, Scottish prisoners of war, American soldiers, enslaved African Americans and young apprentices.

“The workforce itself was a pretty mixed bunch,” Horn said. “That’s part of the story of the early Republic, these different kinds of people coming together. We want to underline the diversity, particularly during the war years.”

Overall, the project should provide a new outlook on the war-making process and life in the colonies.

“[It] will become an evocative location for a range of interpretations that discuss war, economics and technology and how they related to the political events re-enacted on the streets nearby,” Campbell said. “It will engage visitors of all ages. It will continue to invest new activity, robust activity at that, into the Historic Area. It will offer our visitors new insights into what wartime was like in 18th century Williamsburg. And it will be fun.”