Driving north on Highway 6 through Kenilworth, a blacksmith shop sits close to the road. Blink and you’ll miss it.
From outside it doesn’t look like much. But inside this stone building is a wealth of historical treasures, meaningless to some but priceless to historians.
The Kenilworth blacksmith shop was opened in 1885 in a thriving village along the Garafraxa Road, now Highway 6, between Guelph and Owen Sound.
Today the shop sits much as it did when it closed in 1955.
Owner Frank Lynes, whose father and grandfather worked in the shop, died in March 2015. His vision was for the building to be donated to a historical society and now his daughter Krysia is trying to make that happen.
Krysia contacted Kate Rowley of the Mount Forest Museum and Archives to see what could be done.
“I sort of read (the email) and thought ‘blacksmith shop in Kenilworth?’” said Rowley.
But her colleagues from Kenilworth knew the building well.
Rowley is now the chair of the blacksmith shop planning committee, which is trying to figure out what to do with the property, including the shop, a small barn and a house.
The Lynes family still owns the property and the committee is glad Krysia is being patient, said Rowley.
“Krysia’s happy to hold title to settle the best way to create some kind of governing structure for it,” said Rowley.
“For now, it’s just this wonderful project that as a heritage society, what we can do without any kind of discussion of ownership is to just go ahead and thinking about what we can do, what it could be.”
Rowley added Frank Lynes’ vision for the shop was influenced by his affection for Kenilworth and the property.
“He knew that in the blacksmith shop was this sense of history; of industrial history, Garafraxa history, the transportation history, Kenilworth history,” said Rowley.
The blacksmith shop was opened by Franks’ grandfather James Sr. (1852-1913). It was passed down to James Jr. (1880-1958). James Jr. carried on the business until 1955, when both modernity and his age probably played into his decision to stop, explained Rowley.
By the time Frank was of age to work, demand for blacksmiths was dwindling. Frank became a physician in Hamilton, but he visited the shop and house every summer.
Though the shop was closed for good in 1955, a sign still hangs inside reading “be back in 5 minutes” and a note clipped to a beam reads, “Call at the house, James Lynes”.
Over the years items foreign to blacksmith shop have piled up in the building, including a 1960s car and tools and ladders. But for the most part, inside the shop it looks as if time has stood still. The building remains relic from a bygone era, when blacksmith shops littered Garafraxa Road.
An old bellow sits in the loft, the forge still dirty from use at one end of the building – even part of a sleigh sits inside. Horseshoes, rusted from age, line the beams and rafters.
The committee’s goal is to catalogue all of the items inside and return it to a functioning forge again. Rowley said she wants to avoid the word “museum,” but she hopes the blacksmith shop could be an educational activity for students, as well as a hub for blacksmith events.
She even hopes the location could be a spot along the Butter Tarts and Buggies trail, a joint venture between Wellington North and Southgate Township.
Currently, the committee is writing a business plan for the shop and is hoping to go to Wellington North council for support.
“We want to have a structured idea and real vision and mission for this place by this fall, and … the next step will be to hopefully appear at town council, hopefully shock them with how little we will be asking, but obviously asking for their support in every way,” said Rowley.
There is no cost estimate yet for the restoration work, as the group is still in the early stages of the process. Rowley is hopeful the committee will receive a grant from an organization like the Trillium Foundation for a majority of the capital costs.
“The expenses of running this site should fall on the heritage groups to come up with the plan,” said Rowley.
Hurdles the committee will have to tackle include costs and regulations, among others. But Rowley says she just wants to keep moving forward.
“As chair of the committee, I just feel guardian of (Frank’s) vision and just to not lose site of the incredible generous gesture because both the property and the buildings are being donated and it is a missed opportunity if heritage groups and local government cannot find someway to work together here,” she said.
Rowley said she would like the shop to be open next summer, but the committee requires many volunteers to get to that stage. The plan would be to open the shop only for warmer months flanking the school year.
First, the committee and both Wellington County Museum and Archives and the Mount Forest Museum and Archives will catalogue all of the items in the shop, which can be done without transferring the title because Krysia has provided permission.
“There are people who remember the blacksmiths in the village … I think Kenilworth is the perfect place for it to land too, because it does blend communities and Kenilworth itself has a strong sense of its own history,” said Rowley.
