I have been asked to advise on a potential modification to a reconstructed building. As built c. 1995, this building depicts a mid-late 19th-century blacksmith shop as part of a boatyard on the Erie Canal, and it contains a working coal-fired forge for living history demonstrations. As built, a corner of the forge area includes a single-animal stall, interpreted as being a holding stall for canal horses or mules, waiting to be shoed. The stall is approximately 15 feet (4.5m) from the forge. With possible renovations coming up, the museum sponsoring this building is wondering if stalls within an active blacksmith shop were common, unusual, or never heard of. Opinions range from the stall in the forge room being a practical idea, to it being never done, because the horses and mules would have been agitated by the fire and noise of the forge, and would therefore have been hard to manage safely. The museum is trying to decide to keep the stall as is, or remove it to improve the historical character of the reconstructed building.


Opinions and links to published references concerning this topic are welcome.


Thanks,


D. Babson.