Washington Crossing State Park, PA - Part 3 Taylorsville General Store and Blacksmith Shop

Two very cool historical businesses!

General Store, General Store and One of the Taylor Houses, Blacksmith Shop. Photos by Nature Photographer Pam Hirst at PKH Photography. Writing by Freelance Content Writer and Travel Blogger Meghan Hirst at Meghan Hirst, Writer.

We will be expanding on the background of the Taylor family and the blacksmith in this post. If you missed our first discussion, you can read it here: https://meghanhirst27.wixsite.com/my-site/post/washington-crossing-state-park-pa-part-2-hibbs-house-and-frye-house.

The buildings that we have shown in parts 1 through 3 are in the section of the park that is collectively known as Taylorsville. It is named after entrepreneur and merchant Mahlon Taylor, who was the most prestigious Taylor. He was born in 1791 and he passed away in 1870.

The general store opened in 1828. This was very close to when the construction of the Delaware Raritan Canal began. Interestingly, general stores also functioned as post offices and distributed important information in the press during this time period. Taylor worked as a postmaster at his store for nearly forty years. We presented another general store in a historic village in a previous post. You can view it here if you did not see it: https://meghanhirst27.wixsite.com/my-site/post/whitesbog-village-part-1-history.

The blacksmith shop started operating in 1830. The materials that Frye welded here were crucial to people's lifestyles in the 1800's. They helped them in both the workplace and the home. The shop that is here now is not the original building. It had to be refurbished in 1990. I actually freaked out when I saw the shop for the first time because I think blacksmithing is really neat XD I have seen this craft in fantasy video games, TV shows, and movies :D

Please note that the Taylorsville buildings are being renovated as of the time that this post was published. You can check Washington Crossing State Park's website for updates.

The Thompson-Neely House and Farmstead and the American Revolution Soldiers' Graves are next!

Have you ever seen a blacksmith shop in person or taken welding classes?