It didn’t look like I was going to be one of the first 250! People were driving up on lawns to park, and I caught a glimpse of a Bouncy Castle. I got a late start due to savoring my coffee in bed and reading, so I was really nervous when the entire neighborhood was parked full. It wasn’t blacksmithing, but it involved hot, molten metal, which is even better than just hot, glowing metal. The event at the Saugus Iron works was very exciting then, because there would be sand casts available for the first 250 people. Unfortunately, it is hard to find beginning blacksmithing classes, so I haven’t progressed much past my Useful S-Hook. I took a blacksmithing class last year, and liked it enough that I want to do more. I checked out their website, and saw that they were doing an Iron Pour for an upcoming weekend.

Given my goal of visiting all the National Parks, I knew I was going to go there eventually, and with the impending government shutdown, I thought I should go on up there while the weather was still warm. I knew there was a National Historic Site there – I had seen the signs – but having experienced Route One in Saugus (a long stretch of roads with fast food restaurants, mini-golf, gas stations and tacky sculptures – Orange Dinosaurs and the Leaning Tower of Pizza), it was tough to believe anything historic could possibly be left. I never thought that there would be something of historic significance in Saugus.

Leaning tower of pizza saugus