A visit to living history in a Greenport, NY barn reveals that “blacksmithing is still alive and well,” according to Tom Barry, Village Blacksmith. “There is no threat to blacksmithing,” he said.

On weekends in the historic maritime whaling port you can find Barry “smithing” over a hot anthracite coal fire in the Front Street barn from which he works on weekends. That barn, from East Marion, was moved to the site of the original blacksmith barn in view of Greenport’s marina.

Barry often hears visitors making an inaccurate claim that his is a lost art.

“We don’t exist in this form,” he says–referring to the living museum from which he works–“where you walk around the village and might see two or three blacksmith shops working all day. Now, we’re just farriers who drive to the barns who shoe the horses; toolmakers who work out of buildings in their backyards, and professional blacksmiths who have hybrid shops doing forging and welding, all doing beautiful architectural work. These businesses are all over.” –Miranda Gatewood