Gunsmithing Workshop - November 17 & 18

VIP Gunsmithing Experience

$150 per participant

VIP Experience Tickets
Thursday, November 17
Sigmon Family Education Center
Hart Square Village, Vale, NC
5 pm to 7:30 pm
  • 5-6 pm VIP RECEPTION with guest artisan Richard Sullivan
  • 6-7:30 pm Lecture, “Virginia Rifles made along the Great Wagon Road.”
Friday, November 18
Hart Square Village, Vale, NC
9 am to 3 pm
  • Interactive demonstration of forge-welding a Revolutionary War-inspired rifle barrel with Colonial Williamsburg Master Gunsmith Richard Sullivan at the Wheelwright shop forge at Hart Square Village.
  • Small group tour of the 103 log structures at Hart Square Village. 
  • Behind-the-scenes tour of the Hart Square flintlock rifle collection.
  • Opportunity to fire an authentic flintlock.
  • Coffee, lunch, and beverages included. 

Gunsmithing Lecture

Thursday, November 17, 2022
6 - 7:30 pm
Sigmon Family Education Center

Join Colonial Williamsburg Master Gunsmith Richard Sullivan at Hart Square Village for the lecture: “Virginia Rifles made along the Great Wagon Road,” a photographic study of three important Virginia rifles. The earliest in the group was made at the Headwaters of the James River in the 1750's. The second is the earliest with a brass box and dated 1771. The third rifle is the earliest known rifle with a signature by the gunsmith.

$20 - Lecture Admission

Lecture Tickets

Meet Richard Sullivan

Richard Sullivan has been making rifle guns since the mid-1980's. He was hired by Colonial Williamsburg historic trades in 2003. He became the eighth person in the shop's 60-year history to make a completely handmade rifle using only eighteenth-century type tools, technology, and raw materials. In 2018 he was promoted to Master of the Colonial Williamsburg Gunsmith shop. He enjoys hunting, especially with flintlocks he has built.