A Noble Gesture

Ken O’Brien

The Moses Wilder Blacksmith Shop at OSV

My maternal grandfather was a blacksmith here in Southbridge. I was told, although I cannot recall it, that he maintained a forge in the Globe Village part of town. However, I do remember him shoeing the horses we owned, and I rode, as a child. My mother maintained a period reproduction painting over the family living room fireplace of a blacksmith’s shop that she claimed looked very much like her father’s shop.

As a result it caught my attention when I read earlier this week about the decision by Southbridge Savings Bank to fund the continued preservation and care of the Blacksmith Shop at Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) through the museum's Adopt-a-Building program.

The Blacksmith Shop was built in 1810 in Bolton and relocated to Old Sturbridge Village in 1957. Blacksmith Moses Wilder built the shop using granite stones, and ran a prosperous business making and repairing tools used in a neighboring quarry, according to Village personnel.

"Southbridge Savings Bank's support of the Blacksmith Shop will help to maintain this treasured aspect of the village, ensuring future generations will get to hear our costumed historians explain early New England history amidst the smoke from the fire and the sounds of a strike on the anvil," OSV President and CEO James E. Donahue said in a statement quoted in Worcester Business Journal. 

"We consider the village an important historical museum in our backyard and it is our privilege to continue to support it," Southbridge Savings Bank President Philip Pettinelli said.