We don't see very many blacksmiths around our communities these days. I'm remembering a time, not so long ago, when the Pea Ridge community had at least three blacksmiths. Those who I remember best were Shorty Hall, who had his shop on today's North Davis Street, where Jeff Spivey and family now live; Johnny Clanton, whose home and shop were on McCulloch Street; and Purley Cloyd, whose shop was on Twelve Corners Road just off Arkansas Highway 72 east.
Earlier, Johnny Clanton had his shop in the downtown alley behind the old Webb's Hatchery building and behind today's City Hall. Until recently, I had never known Shorty Hall's given name. We always just called him Shorty. Not long ago, I learned that he was John Roscoe Hall. Shorty Hall and several members of his family are buried at Buttram's Chapel Cemetery. Johnny Clanton, his wife Mayda and their two children, are buried at Tucks Chapel. Purley Cloyd and several members of his family are buried at Pea Ridge Cemetery.
In years gone by, in the era of horse-drawn transportation, and through the Depression Years and the World War II Years, blacksmiths were much in demand. They played an essential role in helping a rural community like ours function. I can't imagine farming in the old days without a blacksmith to help with repairs when farm implements broke or wore out, or when the horses needed new shoes. In the generation before my parents' generation, Pea Ridge's leading blacksmith was Harve Ricketts. Mr. Rickett's shop was in an older barn-type building located where today's Pea Ridge Upholstery Shop stands. I had earlier thought that the Harve Ricketts building had once housed a barrell-making business or cooperage, back when apples were big business in Benton County. But lately I have been looking at a 1903 map of the town of Pea Ridge, and in that map it appears that there were two separate buildings; the cooperage, located where the little white building which was Dona Armstrong's Cafe now stands, and the blacksmith shop, standing just across a narrow alley to the east. That alley pretty much doesn't exist today, although the space for it is still there, and the south portion passing southward through the T.H. Rogers Lumber Yard is still in use today.
I don't know of any old-time blacksmiths operating in Pea Ridge today. We do have Robert Stone, who carries on and demonstrates the old blacksmith skills in a variety of larger places, but Robert doesn't have a blacksmith shop as such in Pea Ridge, though he and Peggy have their home here.
I used to wonder why blacksmiths were called blacksmiths? I've heard two ideas. One, that since they are old-time metal workers, often working with coal-fired or coke-fired forges in a smoky, sooty, oily and dusty environment, and often their faces, hands and clothing would be black and sooty, that therefore they were "black" smiths. Of course the word "smith" refers to a person of special craft skills, like goldsmith, silversmith, coppersmith and so on. Also, a blacksmith often works with black iron metals, so that may be a source of the word "black"smith.
The work of blacksmiths was very closely related to work with horses. Quite often horseshoes were formed by blacksmiths as one of their standard products. The blacksmith might himself do shoeing of horses, customizing the iron shoes to the shape of each horse's foot. Although I don't remember the word being used around Pea Ridge, a man who took care of horses feet, trimming and shaping the hooves, and fitting and nailing the iron shoes in place, might be called a farrier. That word farrier, sometimes spelled ferrier, comes from the word ferrous, referring to iron-based metals. Many old-time blacksmith shops also shoed horses.
At one time, before 1920, Pea Ridge also had a livery barn, located not far east of today's City Hall. I don't know a great deal about the livery barn business, and I don't know who were the proprietors for our local livery barn, but I tend to compare to a car repair garage which also rents cars. Likely they did harness repairs. No doubt you could take your horses there to have their feet trimmed and shoed. Caring for your horse's feet was a really important if you wanted to keep your horse healthy and nimble. A horse's hoof grows, like our fingernails and toenails grow, and over time they might grow off balance, or might split, and the result could be sore feet for your horse. At a livery stable you might also rent a horse and buggy, or a team and wagon, or a horse and saddle -- or you might find horses for sale.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].
Editorial on 04/29/2015