amyh12•2d ago

The forge tour in Williamsburg made me question the "authentic" trend

I visited the Colonial Williamsburg blacksmith shop last month, and honestly, everyone talks about how great it is to see historical methods. But I left feeling like we've romanticized the whole thing. The demo guy was using a fly press for some steps, not just hand hammering, and nobody seemed to care. Maybe it's just me, but if we're selling "authentic 18th century work," shouldn't we stick to the old ways completely? Or is the fly press just a smart shortcut that we should all be okay with? Has anyone else noticed this disconnect at living history sites?

2 comments

2 Comments

pat_murray532d ago

Honestly the fly press thing is the least of it. The real issue is that even the "authentic" stuff they show is cherry picked. They skip the parts that would bore people or take days, like making nails by hand or weaving cloth. Nobody wants to watch a guy stir a dye vat for six hours. So we get this curated version of history that feels real but is actually edited for entertainment. That's way more of a disconnect than a fly press, because at least the press is honest about being a tool. The rest of it is pretending that work was romantic and fulfilling when it was mostly repetitive and hard on your body. Maybe the fly press being there is the only truthful thing in the whole shop.

grant1552d ago

Yeah, they do cut the boring parts, but that's not really the same as faking the work. The fly press is a bigger deal because it's physically wrong for the time period, not just edited for TV.