World renowned blacksmith, his work can be found all over the world but is most predominantly seen in the South Carolina Lowcountry and Charleston at many different old homes, churches and parks in the downtown area. At the young age of eight he was sent to live in Charleston. Enrolled in the very first class at Buist Elementary School (now known as Buist Academy), he began to notice the craftsmen and iron workers on his trips to and from school. He developed a keen interest in the blacksmiths and soon began visiting their shops. Simmons soon garnered an apprenticeship under the tutelage of blacksmith Peter Simmons (no relation). He then moved into the specialized field of ornamental iron in 1938. Philip Simmons fashioned more than five hundred decorative pieces of ornamental wrought iron gates, fences, balconies, and window grills. His work is located in the Smithsonian Institution, the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia and as far away as Paris and China. Other pieces of his work have also been acquired by the National Museum of American History as well as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1989, the vestry and congregation of his church, St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church of Charleston, dedicated the grounds of the church as a commemorative landscaped garden in his honor and to his exceptional mastery of wrought iron and in recognition of his inspirational character and self-assurance. His honors and awards include: A 1982 National Endowment for the Arts: National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States can bestow on a traditional artist; January 31, 1994 inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; in 1998, Governor David Beasley, presented him with The Order of the Palmetto, the highest award given in the state and in May 2001, he received the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.