In the 1800's and early 1900's, the blacksmith was very important to every day life on Prince Edward Island. Blacksmiths made goods out of metal using a forge. You had to be very talented with metals and iron if you were going to be a blacksmith; you had to know how to work the metal or iron properly to be a good blacksmith. There was usually a blacksmith shop close to everybody's home back then.

Blacksmiths were important in taking care of horses. Horse shoes were used to protect horses' hooves, and the blacksmith both made the horse shoes and nailed them to the horses' hooves.

A horse could do almost double the work that a car or tractor could do. Even when cars and tractors arrived on PEI, most people still used horses for much of their farm work.

PARO, Acc 3466/HF75.77.4