Arkansas Ties ... A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That, and a Whole Lot of Arkansas

James Black's Blacksmith Shop Old Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas James Black's Shop where the first Bowie Knife was made In 1831 James Black, a silversmith made for Col. James Bowie the original Bowie knife. Black made the knife but it was Bowie who made it famous. This shop was reconstructed in 1960 by the Pioneer Washington Restoration Foundation, Inc. with funds donated by Albert G. Simms of Albuquerque, N.M. in honor of his father, Thomas Hamilton Simms, who came to Washington in 1857, served in the Confederate army and died after a long and honorable life at Texarkana, Arkansas in 1918.