Highland Handcrafts
A fascinating way to spend a Xortli Caro¬
lina mountain vacation is to follow’ the
Appalachian Handcraft trail.
Within 100 miles of Asheville, be¬
tween eight and ten thousand Ameri¬
can Highlanders arc making all or a
substantial part of their living from
handcrafts.
It is the greatest reservoir of folk
manufacturing in America, and its
products are the most famous. It is
one of the great and satisfying sights
of North Carolina.
The handcraft trail is the highway
to adventure, because in spite of
organizations, museums, and centers,
the making by hand of things durable,
useful and pretty is still spontaneous
and unpredictable.
You can start easily and conven¬
iently at the very accessible shops
and centers. From here, it is possible
to spread out in circles of explorations
which take you to the highest moun¬
tains and deepest coves.
But quickly, we suggest that the
heart of this kingdom is at Allanstand
in Asheville, the shop of the South¬
ern Highland Handicraft Guild, and a
good place to get specific route infor¬
mation. Pcnland School for Hand¬
crafts. near Spruce Pine, is a widely
known and active center. Among
others are the John C. Campbell Folk
School, at Brasstown, between Haycs-
villc and Murphy, and the guild's craft
center in Cone Memorial Park, on the
Parkway at Blowing Rock. Also the
Oualla Handicraft Co-operative at
Cherokee, and the Craft School at
Crossnorc.
For general information on crafts,
production, sales, etc., the best author¬
ity is Miss Louise Pittman. Southern
Highland Handcraft Guild. 8
’/2
Wall
Street. Asheville.
How did such a large fragment of
pioneer American industry survive in
our mountains? North Carolinians gen¬
erally. and its mountain people in par¬
ticular, had little access to manufac¬
tured goods, and little money to buy
them with. Communication by water
was difficult and unreliable, roads were
deplorably bad or non-existent, com¬
merce. feeble.
io
By BILL SII.ARPK
In 1816 only 1
/
million dollars
worth of produce — and this was mostly
raw material — was shipped through
our ports, and imports were smaller.
There were few merchants and no
large trade centers. Only 1 1 ,844 per¬
sons were employed in manufacturing.
It was bad in the east, but it was
worse in the west, where rivers were
not navigable and geography was un¬
yieldingly perpendicular. Farmers got
a little cash to pay taxes by driving
their livestock to market or hauling
their corn — in the form of whiskey —
to the nearest market. Most of them
practiced a live-at-home economy and
were self-sufficient.
It was. and remained for a long
time, the "land of make it yourself or
do without." In almost every home,
then, thread was spun and woven
into cloth on hand looms; families
lived well or poor according to how
skilled they were with the axe. draw¬
ing knife, needle and hoc.
Fortunately, that work often re¬
sulted in articles which today arc highly
prized.
If a table or a bed had to be built,
the man with imagination turned out
an exceptional piece of furniture; it
may have been sturdy and simple, but
it had pleasing lines. The woman of
the household, if she had a sense of
beauty, colored her wool with the rich
tones of walnut, madder, or indigo,
then wove her linscy woolsey. and so
dressed her family. She adapted the
crafts of her forebears, which prob¬
ably came from Europe, or she may
have originated her own and called it
"Rose in the Wilderness" or “Tennes¬
see Trouble" as she "tromped" the
treadles and produced the beautiful
"coverlids" to keep her family warm.
The Cherokee skillfully carved his
bow and arrow or fashioned his farm
implements; his wife gathered cane to
make fine baskets.
So self-dependent was the carlv Tar
Heel that in 1814. 7,500.000 yards of
cloth were woven by hand on more
than 40.000 looms in North Caro¬
lina homes, according to Hugh Lcf-
ler's History.
The period of subsistence farming
and household self-sufficiency lingered
longer in the Highlands, because this
section was the last to be tapped by
transportation systems. Then it began
to die swiftly, as cheap "fotchcd-on"
goods appeared in stores. By 1890.
the low peak in handcraft production
had been reached.
While some crafts have been con¬
tinued unbroken since their arrival
from Europe, revival of craftsmanship
on a wide scale in our mountains came
mostly from outsiders, starting at Berea
College in Kentucky. In North Caro¬
lina, the revival was led by Frances L.
Goodrich, a social worker. Scores of
others participated, and no attempt will
be made to name them here. But the
Biltmore Industries, supported by Mrs.
George Vanderbilt and continued by
Fred Seeley; the folk school at Brass-
town, a dream of the John C. Camp¬
bells. Miss Lucy Morgan's Penland idea
all were landmarks. The develop¬
ment of the guild in 1928, under lead¬
ership of Miss Clementine Douglass,
resulted in strengthening the revival by
selling standards and finding markets.
The "revival" continued steadily,
though sometimes slowly and with tem-
THE STATE. May 22. 1954
