The OSV Tin Shop

The most interesting tour that we took at Old Sturbridge Village was the 50 year retrospective that traced the changes in the new country for the fifty years starting just before the revolution. In that 50 years we went from farming communities mostly living and exporting produce - to being the China of the late 18th century.

By 1830, New England was the shoe capital of the world, we had something like 10 glassworks. We were the cheap labor zone for the Western world's publishing business, importing raw materials and exporting finished books to England and Europe.



Tin was that era's plastic - made to be used and when broken, thrown away. The Village has two tin shops, one is the production shop for trade thru the colonies, and the other is for the local trade.


A group of tools for the tinsmith.


A neighbor comes by to drop something off.


Cups waiting for handles, a wall sconce waiting for the reflector.


A big anvil for large projects, small anvil for cups and candleholders.


A pre-electric soldering iron. They made their own flux out of pine sap.


Turning the edge on a candle shade.

Sorry for the fuzzy photos, but the flash was too overpowering for these small inside spaces. The Gypsy dark photo technique: Inhale, exhale, inhale exhale and hold it out, jam your shoulder up against the wall, click the shutter and try to hold really still until the shutter stops buzzing.