What image comes to mind when I say the word “Birmingham”? I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it’s probably not Shetland Ponies. But, for a period of a few decades in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Birmingham was the premier place in the country to get a purebred Shetland Pony. And the subject of this podcast episode, Fenton Watkins, spent a great deal of his life working with those ponies, bringing joy to pony enthusiasts and the tourists on Boblo Island who rented the pony concessions that he and his uncle’s farm provided.
For photos and other documents related to the episode, check out our website
For questions, comments or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.
Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.
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