Edgartown's Last Blacksmith

Edgartown's last blacksmith also happens to have been my Uncle Orin Norton. Orin was married to my grandmother's sister, so technically he was my grand uncle, but I always just knew him as Uncle Orin. He died when I was around ten years old but I have vivid memories of spending time at his farm picking vegetables and wandering around, into and out of his shop, and watching him work. Here's a gem that was passed on to me by my friend Karen Child: a woodcut by the late Sidney Noyes Riggs depicting my Uncle Orin's blacksmith shop, probably created in the 1950s. Mr. Riggs was a noted Vineyard artist and was a prolific creator of wood cuts depicting Vineyard scenes.