Historical Photo Location Revealed: Blacksmith

Is it an elf house? Look at that tiny door!

Last week's  prompted a great discussion, and no shortage of correct answers in the comments.

The building is in fact an old blacksmith and wheelright shop that sits at the corner of Warren Avenue and Old Lancaster Road in the General Warren Village neighborhood. 

A historical narrative, provided by the East Whiteland Historical Commission and attached to this article, estimates the construction of the building was around 1780, and cites specific newspaper mentions in 1817. The property is described as:

A piece of land containing one acre and 89 perches, on which there is an erect stone dwelling house, stone blacksmith and wheelwright shops, a never failing spring of good water under a new stone springhouse.

The narrative also contains this nugget:

James G. Branson, the wheelwright at the shop, offered a six cents reward for the return of Joseph Chalfont, an indentured apprentice.

Kudos go to , the first commenter, who correctly identified the building, despite referring to Old Lancaster Road as Village Way. The road doesn't became Village Way until a bit further west. 

A fun story came from , who said:

That was way too easy! Corner of Warren Avenue and Village Way! Thoroughly convinced my daughter (now 46 y/o) that a little Elf family lived behind the little door. Now my granddaughter believes it! The British troops marched up from Cedar Hollow en route to perform the Paoli Massacre through those woods.

 correctly explained the building's purpose:

Wagon wheel repair and blacksmith for the wagons on the turnpike.

And  expanded on that, providing a Revolutionary War perspective:

The smaller building, the blacksmith shop was built 1751 to 1753 and was used as a field hospital for the Paoli massacre. the larger building was the wheelwright with the folks living upstairs, ca 1780.