After four decades of shaping minds as a Conestoga High School art teacher, Gary Kershner is now into a different, more literal kind of forging. He’s bringing history to life at the East Goshen Blacksmith Shop, writes Bill Rettew for the Daily Local News.

The stone building in which he works offers a glimpse into Colonial America.

And while he pounds away, Kershner provides visitors with a blow-by-blow description of the process as he bends hot steel, a craft he enjoys greatly.

The moment that most viewers — including a steady stream of elementary school students and Scouts — love most comes after that.

“It’s really fun to see the little kids’ faces when you pull that yellow-orange hot piece of metal from the fire, after forming it, then plunge it into the water,” said Kershner. “It sizzles.”

In addition to enjoying the art of blacksmithing, Kershner, ever the instructor, likes recounting the history of the property. He vividly invokes the site’s past, which has hosted a blacksmith and wheelwright shop since 1740, built by the Ashbridge family.

Read more about the East Goshen Blacksmith Shop in the Daily Local News.