I'm not that old...

When someone asks me, "Were you alive when there were still Blacksmiths"  I ask them,"How old do you think I am?"

The truth of the matter is, When I was a kid, the Garage down the road also had a belt operated machine and wood shop, The garage had a Steam car inside of it, and yes, there was a blacksmith shop at the corners of Cow Hill and Packer Road. Right next to the one room school house. We used to fish in the stream that ran next to the Blacksmith. 

But that doesn't mean I'm THAT old, I mean the one room school house is still there, it is a private residence, just like it was when I was a kid. The garage with the Steamer in it and belt operated tools is still there, he doesn't sell gasoline anymore, but the machinery still operates. The Grandson runs it, sort of as a hobby. 

The Steam car...it's still inside. It is a Welles-Gierth Steamer, that was Albert Welles and his Apprentice Erick Gierth, My Grandfather. They decided to take apart a Stanley Steamer, examine it and make their own Steam car. It was never finished, but it is still there. 

The Blacksmith shop? OK, I realize it sounds like I must be old to have been around then, but the truth is, it isn't that I was born all that long ago, the fact is the Blacksmith shop out lived it's time. I can't remember ever seeing anyone working there, just an old gentleman sitting on the wooden sidewalk attached to the building talking to people who happened by. It was closed by the time I was seven years old, By the time I was 15 it was a collapsed pile of wood with swamp growth reclaiming it. Now...it's just a memory.

I mean who cares if there were no cellular phones, television programs still made a big deal out of the fact that they were in color. To dial a phone you.."Dialed" a phone. 

The truth is I miss it, you know what I also miss? The Town of Mystic. It was Lobstermen, Fishermen, boat builders, and Marinas. The people were friendly and the stores were real, you could go there and actually buy something that had a purpose. I can remember one (1) Tourist Gift shop, the rest were in the Seaport. The docks were open to the public, you could walk on them, fish from them, swim from them, no gates and no keep out signs. 

It's like the old saying, Everything changes, and never for the better.

When I was 12 we used to ride to Mystic on our bikes and spend the entire day there. There were no issues with it. Nowadays, you leave a 12 year old kid at HOME alone, and you could be arrested, and have your child taken from you.



klay