Gretna Green the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as "anvil priests", culminating with Richard Rennison, who performed 5,147 ceremonies. The local blacksmith and his anvil became lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Two in particular, The Old Blacksmith's Shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's Shop (1710) became, in popular folklore at least, the focal tourist points for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmith's Shop opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887. Victorian chronicler Robert Smith Surtees described Gretna Green at length in his 1848 "New Monthly Magazine" serial, "The Richest Commoner in
Gretna Historic District Gretna Historic District Gretna Historic District is a historic district in downtown Gretna, Louisiana, roughly bounded by 1st Street, Amelia Street, 9th Street, Gulf Drive, 4th Street and Huey P. Long Avenue. The area comprises a total of 737 buildings and structures, of which 553 are considered contributing properties, and 4 are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as individual properties. Building dates vary from c.1845 to 1935 and are mostly creole cottages, shotgun houses, bungalows and corner commercial buildings. Styles vary from the Greek Revival and Italianate of 1845-1879 structures, to the Italianate, Eastlake and Colonial