273-0014

Samuel D. Outlaw Blacksmith Shop

VLR Listing Date

03/16/2023

NRHP Listing Date

05/17/2023

NRHP Reference Number

MP100008968

The Samuel D. Outlaw Blacksmith Shop is located in the Accomack County town of Onancock, and is listed under the African American Watermen of the Virginia Chesapeake Bay MPD. The shop has an open, one-room plan, with unfinished walls exposing the building’s wood framing. A reconstructed brick forge with a chimney is located along the western wall to provide space for heating metals. According to local residents, Samuel D. Outlaw, an African American blacksmith from Windsor, North Carolina, constructed the shop where he began his business about one year after moving to the Town of Onancock in 1926. Outlaw, a 1925 graduate of the blacksmithing program at the Armstrong-Slater Memorial Trade School of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University), worked at his shop for more than 60 years during Virginia’s segregation period, producing specialized metal tools to Black and white watermen, farmers, carpenters, and community members throughout the Eastern Shore. Locals who remember Outlaw in the later years of his business, including Virginia’s former governor Ralph Northam, recall that his shop was “the place to go” when something was in need of repair, and describe him as a “gracious and welcoming man” who treated everyone equally, regardless of race. At the time of listing in the registers, the Samuel D. Outlaw Blacksmith Shop served as a museum preserving the legacy of Outlaw’s contributions to the Eastern Shore’s communities.

Last Updated: January 31, 2024

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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

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