I saw a drawing of an oil lamp from the Oseberg Viking ship burial in Norway. I really wanted to make one, and by the time I had learned enough to build one I was hooked on the craft. That was in 1974.
The advice people have been giving here is good--connect with some smiths with established shops. There are many different styles of tooling and ways to put a shop together--don't build one yourself until you've tried enough things to get clues as to how you like to work and what sorts of things you'll end up making. The difference between fantasy and reality comes in here; I have a 100 pound anvil I got cheap from a yuppie who spent about two thousand dollars on all-new tools, then discovered he didn't like sweat, soot and honest work. You won't know how you feel until you have a chance to try--make your discoveries in a shop someone else has already built.
Assuming you do enjoy the craft, then there are still major choices to be made. Are you heating with gas, coal, charcoal or something more exotic? The main choices are coal and gas, try each long enough to form an opinion. The skills of getting a coal fire to run clean and not choke you are different from the adjustments you need to keep the gas forge from making your work disappear.
Are you interested in blades? Historical reproductions? Making your own tools and hardware for your own use? Blacksmithing as a support activity for something else, such as woodworking or machine building? Learn the basics, and try out the things you had an interest in. Ultimately, a shop set up for bladesmithing will be very different from one set up by a welder to bend and shape metal too heavy for a rosebud torch, and both of those will differ from a shop turning out hinges and shelf brackets and awning supports for a new or remodeled house project. Big fences and gates call for layout areas and special gear, and working at historical reenactments may put a premium on tools and techniques authentic for a particular period. Whatever your interests, try to learn from people who are already doing them--and there are more of us than you think. Good luck to you!
Conrad Hodson