The Hollands wanted to preserve the charm of the historic structure, which features a porch with a view of Patapsco Valley State Park. The blacksmith shop has modern amenities like a full kitchen (where Holland’s wife provides coffee service and homemade banana muffins) and air conditioning, but remnants of the building’s function remain, including the original forge and a number of iron hooks on the walls that once held the blacksmith’s tools. A beam in the house is inscribed with “Finniymore tuck a horse, 1895,” like a 19th-century sticky note left by the former proprietor for modern visitors to enjoy.