photo: Cedric N. Chatterley
Bea Hensley
Art Form: Folk/Traditional Crafts and Visual Arts
1909 Dula Rd
Spruce Pine, NC 28777-6391
Phone: 828/765-2221
photo: Cedric N. Chatterley
Art Form: Folk/Traditional Crafts and Visual Arts
1909 Dula Rd
Spruce Pine, NC 28777-6391
Phone: 828/765-2221
In the early 1900s, the blacksmith's ability to forge and repair such objects as axes, shoes for horses, and wheels for carriages still played an essential role in North Carolina's mountain communities. That was a time, says Bea Hensley, when "every fork in the road had a grist mill and a blacksmith."
As the automobile and the tractor reduced the need for the horse and buggy and livery stable, some blacksmiths became mechanics or worked in body shops. Some went back to farming. Others migrated to Detroit to work on assembly lines. A few survived the change in technology by shifting from utilitarian to ornamental ironwork.
Bea Hensley entered blacksmithing during this transition. Born in 1919, the son of a Baptist preacher, Hensley possessed an artistic temperament that fit well into the change in ironworking. In Burnsville, where Hensley grew up, the forge of Daniel Boone VI proved to be an irresistible attraction. His apprenticeship with Boone began informally when he was a young boy. "I just loved the sound of the anvil and to watch him work and make all of the fancy stuff that he made." Boone, a direct descendant of the famous frontiersman, helped Hensley become familiar with the anvil, the forge, and other tools of the trade.
From Boone, Hensley also learned an ancient "hammer language," once common among blacksmiths. Relying only on rapidly striking hammers to communicate, the smith and his striker give and carry out detailed forging instructions. Hensley believes that the version of hammer language he learned--and has passed on to his son--can be traced back to Daniel Boone and Boone's English ancestors who were blacksmiths. A tradition in the Boone family says that this language was used in the building of Solomon's temple.
In 1937, when Daniel Boone VI received the exclusive contract for restoration ironwork to be done in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, he built a new forge in Spruce Pine as his base of operations. After World War II, Hensley returned to the forge to help with the restoration work, and it was he who finished the job in the early 1950s. He bought the shop from Daniel Boone VI and went into ornamental ironwork full time.
"I've been blacksmithing for fifty-two years," reports Hensley, "and for a lot of those years I've gotten up at three o'clock and four o'clock in the morning and have worked until nine at night." He took some of that time to teach his son, Mike, in much the same way that Daniel Boone VI trained him. Mike recalls that, when he was five years old, his father would "show me how to hold my hammer and things like that. And he would let me create my own scrollwork. I've got my first leaf. It's backwards from the way he makes one. But he allowed me to do it."
Today, the Bea Hensley and Son Hand Forge remains a productive and creative arena for both men. The skill and artistry of their work--and unsolicited orders from as far away as Queensland, Australia--demonstrate how successfully father and son have used the traditional techniques of an old craft to create fine ornamental ironwork that will serve future generations. In 1995, the National Endowment for the Arts presented Bea Hensley with its highest honor, the National Heritage Fellowship Award.
Blacksmith Bea Hensley entered blacksmithing during the transition from utilitarian to ornamental ironwork. He uses an ancient “hammer language,” once common among blacksmiths. Relying only on rapidly striking hammers to communicate, the smith and his striker give and carry out detailed forging instructions. Hensley received a North Carolina Heritage Award in 1993 and a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995. He and his son Mike offer blacksmithing demonstrations suitable for all audiences. He needs water, electricity, and an area to safely heat metal at the demonstration site. He also offers demonstrations at his forge in Spruce Pine. He has done this successfully for school groups and others. His fee is negotiable.