The tools Norm Pederson uses aren’t as popular as they were 170 years ago, but they work perfectly for him.

“Human beings in earlier times were able to do some pretty remarkable things without all the help that modern technology has given us today,” Pederson said.

What You Need To Know

  • Norm Pederson has been volunteering at Historic Richmond Town since the 1990s

  • Pederson's family has been into carpentry for generations

  • He is at Historic Richmond Town every day

Pederson is a volunteer 19th century carpenter at Historic Richmond Town. The cultural organization captures 350 years of Staten Island’s past in its living history village.

“Some people like history, think it’s fascinating. Some people don’t. Some people are bored to tears with it,” he said. “We try to make it interesting.”

The Mariners Harbor resident makes everything using the same tools that wood workers would have used in the 1850s.

“I just made this outside at the end of this handle, smooth with hand tools. There’s some people who find it very hard to believe that’s possible at all,” Pederson said.

Pederson started volunteering in the carpentry shop 29 years ago after visiting as a Civil War reenactor.

“They introduced me to the shop, and that was like a kid going to a toy store,” he said.

Carpentry runs deep in his family. His grandfather was a carpenter in Norway.

“His era of carpentry, for whatever reason, fascinates me. Not just maybe partly because he was my grandfather, but — it’s harder to do,” Pederson said.

The retired Staten Island Ferry deckhand is now here every day, creating bowls, baskets, toys and more. He also encourages young people to continue the trade.

 “The level of knowledge and expertise that Norm brings to this role is unsurpassed,” Luke Boyd, the director of education and public programs at Historic Richmond Town, said. “There is no one else like him in terms of the amount of time that he has spent perfecting his trade.”

Norm brings history to life for the next generation of Staten Islanders.

“If people are going to understand things in the future, it’s going to be very confusing if you’ve lost the intervening steps,” Pederson said.

For carving out a piece of the past to teach others, Norm Pederson is our New Yorker of the Week.