The blacksmith was usually one of the first tradesmen to set up shop in an emerging village and Pine Hill was no exception.  Samuel Laing purchased 7/10 of an acre in December 1829 from Charles Woodworth for $58.00 upon which he constructed his blacksmith shop.  Besides shoeing horses, he would make hardware, repair wagons and plows, and his skills often included that of a wheelwright.  Just 21 months later, he sold 4/10s of an acre and the cobblestone shop to Samuel Parker for $275.  Next to the shop, Laing conducted a merchandising business out of a brick store which he built about the same time as the cobblestone shop.  He expected that Pine Hill was going to develop rapidly and he wanted to profit by it. 

During the 1830’s, it passed from the hands of Mr. Parker to William Sherman and then to Nelson L Sherman who held it from 1835 to 1846 when he sold it to William Bradley, a blacksmith from Oakfield.

Levi Rugg purchased a shop used for carriage repair located behind the cobblestone blacksmith shop on Mechanic St in 1849. The following year he added to his holdings, acquiring 3 acres of land across the road from his carriage shop.  In this acquisition, he also obtained the blacksmithing shop.  In 1863, Levi and William Rugg purchased the cobblestone shop from William Bradley, having already sold their carriage shop some years earlier.  Together they operated the business for 12 years until Levi became ill with dropsy that finally ended his life on Dec. 12, 1875.