Timothy Vogler was born in 1806 and was one of seven children of Christoph and Anna Vogler. In 1819, he went to apprentice with his cousin John Vogler (owners of the Vogler house). Christoph died in 1827 and the business was taken over by another son, Nathaniel. Timothy, at the time, was in Georgia to practice his trade as journeyman gunsmith. By the spring of 1831, he returned home to take over his father’s business.
Timothy’s reputation as a master gunsmith grew far beyond the borders of his village. As late as 1872, the then 72-year-old was still using his masterful skills as a gunsmith. L.Y. and E.T. Blum said of Vogler in their 1878 book A Guide Book of NW North Carolina, "the Vogler rifle is well know and highly appreciated by mountain hunters, and those guns have to this day never been surpassed for excellence." William Dettmer served as Timothy’s apprentice and took over after Vogler's death in 1896 at the age of 89.
The building was first built in 1831 and restored in 1960 and again as recently as 2001. The gun shop is one of the earliest and best documented remaining in the US. The shop was a prime example of the importance of trade shops to the community. The structure was built with two rooms, as proposed by plans of the church. At the time, this would have been considered a remote location, as such businesses were kept farther out in town.
Today, you can see master craftsmen working on guns just as they would at the time Vogler would have worked on them, using tools similar to what he would have worked with. Some of the original guns can be seen in the MESDA museum. The costumed interpreters will show you first-hand what it took to make a gun of such craftsmanship. The gun shop even today is a thriving business. This gun shop is still enjoying a well-deserved reputation for their craftsmanship. Their guns are made and used for historical villages and museums. Some of their guns have made their way as props in movies and the theater. According to the young man working when we were there, some of their guns were used in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot, which was shot in nearby cities. Some of the guns are even sought after by actors for historical battle reenactments. If you go around to the side, you can also watch a blacksmith hard at work. At the time Vogler was here, he would have mostly like had a blacksmith working with him.
The shop is open from 9am to 5:30pm. Admission is required to get inside the building. You can take photos inside, and they will let you actually handle the guns they have inside. Even if guns aren’t your thing, it is worth checking out to see how much work went into the beautiful rifles.