
Benjamin Blacksmith Shop on Mackinac Island
By the time Robert Benjamin took over a blacksmith shop on Mackinac Island in the 1880s, the trade already was being phased out by advances in technology that prompted the Industrial Revolution. Still, the shop survived into the 1960s. After all, as a car-free destination, Mackinac Island runs on horses. And all those horses needed horseshoes – a specialty of the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop! The shop for the past several decades has been part of Mackinac State Historic Parks and is located next to the Biddle House Mackinac Island Native American Museum in Historic Downtown Mackinac. It’s where you can watch a blacksmith demonstrate the traditional technique of forging hot iron into items such as horseshoes and carriage wheels. The specific reenactment period dates to the 1950s when the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop also busied itself with lawnmower repairs and boat motor maintenance. You can visit Benjamin Blacksmith Shop every day from early May into October. You can buy a Historic Downtown Mackinac ticket for admission to the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop as well as the Biddle House Mackinac Island Native American Museum, Richard & Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum, the American Fur Co. Store & Dr. Beaumont Museum, and the McGulpin House. Otherwise, a ticket to Fort Mackinac includes same-day admission to each Historic Downtown Mackinac attraction, too. Learn how blacksmithing on Mackinac Island changed through the 1800s and 1900s