In 1929, Melissa Collins drove in an old Model T Car to Rockport, MA with her daughter Melissa (about age 20) to look at a Blacksmith Forge that was advertised "For Sale" in the New York Times. Apparently, the Blacksmith had been a very popular man in town but had committed suicide because of the advent of automobiles and no one wanted to buy the old Blacksmith Shop out of guilt.

   A German Real Estate Agent showed the property to Melissa Collins because she had the idea of starting a Restaurant where the chef could cook over the old Forge. There had been a popular Restaurant in London she had visited before she emigrated from Wales to the USA. She had attended a domestic science and cooking school in Wales. The German Real Estate agent proclaimed that Mrs. Collins surely has "wision" (he said Vision with a W). That was the beginning of the Blacksmith Shop Restaurant in 1929.

   At first, no one wanted to visit the restaurant because of feelings about the old Blacksmith but eventually a film crew from Hollywood came to picturesque Rockport, MA to make a movie. Many movies have been made in Rockport, MA over the years including, more recently, The Perfect Storm, The Good Son, Witches of Eastwick, and Mermaids. (See below) The movie people wanted a quiet place to talk so they stopped into the Blacksmith Shop which had no customers. The food was so delicious that the movie company decided to have the whole company eat their meals there everyday during the movie production. Because of the hub bub, the local townspeople flocked to see the movie production people at the restaurant.

   The Blacksmith Shop gained a certain cache and business was great from that moment on. Melissa Collins passed in 1937 but the Restaurant continued to be run by her daughter Melissa C. Smith (pictured) who married Bill Smith a businessman from New York. They moved to Rockport where he founded Anadama Bread Bakery which he ran until 1970. Mrs. Melissa C Smith was in various local businesses for over 70 years on Cape Ann including The Blacksmith Shop, The Easterly Inn, The Faraday Inn, The Cable House Bed and Breakfast, and Andama Bread.

  NOTE: In 1969, famed Hollywood director Otto Preminger came to Rockport to film segments of his film "Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon".

  One scene was shot inside the expansive dining room of The Blacksmith Shop Restaurant and spilled outside, so to speak. In the scene a fight erupts and the apparent loser of the fight is hurled or shoved through the window of the dining room (see picture) and into Rockport Harbor below.

  Shooting this scene could only happen at dusk and on one of two nights because except for an actual high tide, the actor or stunt person would land on the low tide mud flats or in shallow water. The scene was shot several times on the first night and several more the next night.