Colonial Williamsburg closes gunsmith shop

**87th PVI** · February 24th, 2009, 04:42 PM

The other night we spoke to a friend who works at Colonial Williamsburg. We were informed that they laid off over 130 people and some of the trades were cut as a result. The saddle shop/harness maker and the gunsmith were the first two to be closed.

I thought some may want to e-mail or write CW with requests to bring those trades back and if necessary, make their cuts elsewhere (non trade positions) instead.

Here are a few pics from last summer... when I have time to dig up some from past trips I'll post them too if there is any interest.
Does anyone else have pics to share of the CW gunsmith for posterity?

**rev214** · February 24th, 2009, 04:53 PM

i'm sorry to hear this, as I have visited colonial williamsburg a few times and enjoyed watching the craftsmen such as the gunsmith, carpenters, etc....

that being said, i discontinued my donations to CW several years ago because i disagreed with the foundation's emphasis on satisfying their "politically-correct agenda", especially in their educational agendas...i felt that too much was being spent on the agenda instead of the history...

**brian** · February 24th, 2009, 08:12 PM

thats a shame, the gunsmiths are what made this counrty even possible.

**Emptymag** · February 24th, 2009, 08:20 PM

That's a damned shame.

I was there when I was a kid, and once as an adult. Those were the ones I enjoyed the most and it saddens me to see them being "removed from history".

Thanks for posting this. I may draft a letter. I don't feel a need to slap them with the second amendment, as that would likely turn them off from even finishing the letter, but I will address my displeasure.

**reels18** · February 24th, 2009, 08:39 PM

Political Correctness strikes again. How can anyone tell a story about the birth of our nation without the mention of firearms in conquering a continent, and gaining independence?

Perhaps CW can hire a couple of Colonial Community Organizers to explain how we won our independence from British tyranny, by stuffing ballot boxes with fictitious voters.

**87th PVI** · March 16th, 2009, 11:51 AM

UPDATE

I just got home from CW. We were down for the weekend and I found out a little bit of good news... They did not completely close the gunsmith.

The saddle/harness shop is closed, with all but one of those guys being let go (the one left is at the magazine now so at least he's around guns!)... and the gunsmith is cramped (if they were not backed up for several years with orders for guns at $15-20 thousand each, I wonder if they'd even be in their cramped space right now)

They laid off two of the four gunsmiths (or convinced them to retire) and moved the gunsmith shop from the nice roomy shop they had with an entire building to work in and a forge just outside in the yard for making barrels & other iron parts. They are now crammed in a small area of the Getty Foundry where it looks as if they can barely move. I visited the shop twice over the weekend and there was foundry work going on there as usual but no gunsmithing was being done either time. They did mention that gunsmithing was being done in that shop in the 18th century (something I never remember them mentioning before & we've visited a minimum of 4 times a year for the past 8 years)
They went into more detail and showed me the set of pistols they were working on AFTER I asked questions about the gunsmithing.
When I asked why they moved them from the nice accomodations they were in before to this dark cramped space, I was told that it was because they know that gunsmithing was being done in the Getty shop on that actual site in the 18th century whereas there was no gunsmith shop actually on the former (nicer) site in the 18th century.

I understand wanting to have historical accuracy, but if we are going to go there then lets go there 100%... lets remove the shade trees that were not in town during the period portrayed, and I guess we need to dig up the paved road since the period descriptions say Duke of Glouster street was, if I'm remembering this correctly, 1 mile long, 20 feet wide and A FOOT DEEP. What about the loose animals freely grazing on the palace green and elsewhere (meanwhile adding their byproducts to that foot deep street). Last but not least, modern plumbing, heating and AC was nonexistant in the 18th century, so....bye bye!
C'mon, With all that historical inaccuracy, I think we can give the gunsmith some elbow room and reinstate the harness maker's shop!

**Benjamin D. Uber** · January 19th, 2011, 09:27 AM

Sad news indeed. Lillith and I love to visit Colonial Williamsburg, and being an avid gun collector, the gun shop was my favorite of many places there. Just curious, were the gentlemen employed as gunsmiths from the same trade in today's workaday world? I am informed that CW hires many college students for the Summer re-enactments CW presents.