Historic 
roscoe Village, located on the west side of Coshocton, is now a
combination of trendy shops and old time crafts buildings. We stopped by
the visitor's center and went through their small museum. This is where I
got most of my knowledge of the canals. There were also some antiques as
well as many things for kids to handle. Laura found a miniature loom and
ran a couple of bobbins through the stings. The main street was
lined with clapboard cottages, along red brick sidewalks. Shade trees
offered shelter for the many benches that sat along the walk. Every other
house or so had a sidewalk that ran between it and the next house. These
stairways and paths led to 
yet more shops and crafts. Around every corner
was yet another surprise. It was all quite enchanting. We
considered our time constraints and decided to forgo the trendy shops for more
time with the crafts. Our first stop was at the blacksmith's. This
was one of the first cottage industries to appear along the canal. There
were many iron parts required to keep canal boats and the canals themselves in
working order. The blacksmith we met was both talented and
entertaining. He explained in detail how a nail was made before the industrial
era. As he drew out a "nailrod" from which the nail was made, he
heated it to a red hot glow. He then banged on it for a while before heating
it again. This time he added a vertical edge to the anvil and
laying the heated rod over the edge gave it a couple of solid hits, causing a
wide grove to appear. Bending
it back and forth at the grove caused the
end of the nailrod to break off, creating the nail. One quick grasp by a
vice and a few solid hits on the large end, and a head appeared. The nail
was done. This job was often delegated to a new apprentice who would
sweep up the iron scrap melt it down and draw it out into a nailrod.
Next we stopped by the cooper's shop for a lesson on bucket making. This
craft disappeared as a trade many years ago. It was an exacting trade that
took many years of apprenticeship to learn. It started with learning the
different properties of the various woods. The trick with buckets was that
they generally had to be water tight. Our cooper had many different types
of wood for us to handle. His buckets
were made out of woods that would
swell when wet, as they did not use glues or interlocking of the wood
pieces. Pressure alone kept the water in. He explained that if not used
for a while they often did leak when first filled up. This would end as the
wood swelled and the pieces tried to expand against the rings that held them in
place. The pieces came from split logs which were then shaped with a
drawing knife while the wood was held fast on a shaving bench which he usually
made himself. In earlier times, the buckets were held in place with wooden
rings, as metal was too expensive. The wood rings were shaved thin and then
steamed so they would bend. An ingenious locking design allowed the ends
to lace into each other and still lay flat along the bucket's 
side.
There were many other crafts being demonstrated along the main walk. We
visited a broom maker, soap maker and candle maker. There was also a log
cabin-type bedroom with a docent who talked about life on a early Ohio farm,
before electricity or trains. We were still going strong with several
other places to visit when the bewitching hour of 5:00PM struck and the town
seemed to fold into itself. Windows closed, doors locked and docents were
nowhere to be found. It was a wonderful time and those who spoke to us
made it all seem to be so much fun to live 150 years ago.
*** THE END ***
