ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- In 1895, while visiting Brittain's Cove in Madison County, N.C., missionary Frances Louisa Goodrich accepted a hand-woven coverlet as a gift from a mountain woman.
Inspired by the gift of the "Double Bowknot" coverlet, vegetable dyed and perfectly woven, Ms. Goodrich started Allanstand Cottage Industries (named for Allen's Old Stand, an overnight stopover for hog drovers traveling from Tennessee to South Carolina) and in 1908 opened a retail showroom in Asheville.
From these austere beginnings, the Southern Highlands' multi-million dollar handicrafts industry was launched, and is thriving today. Ms. Goodrich's dream of developing cottage industries to supplement the mountain families farm income is being perpetuated by a new breed of craftspeople.
The Allanstand Shop has survived, operated since 1931 by the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, and is now part of the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Traditional Appalachian handcraft designs came from the Scottish highlands, from the Irish and English and German settlers, from the ingenuity of an isolated people making do with what they had," explains historian Garry Barker, author of The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930 - 1990. "The purity of the coverlet and quilt patterns was preserved because there were few outside influences and no ready markets."
As a result of her accomplishment, Ms. Goodrich is credited with being the first person to capitalize on the quality of mountain crafts and successfully market the products outside the region.
The coverlets, quilts, furniture and baskets that put the region on the country's craft map are still being made, but there is growing influence from craftspeople who are adding a contemporary touch to age-old practices. Mediums such as glass, jewelry and computer design are now as common as wood.
Craftspeople watch with appreciation as traditional and contemporary crafts thrive in the Southern Highlands, expanding what was already a fine tradition of workmanship. And in an age of cut-throat competition and a corporate take-no-prisoners approach to business, it is refreshing to witness the perpetuation of two distinct styles that are helping to reshape the image of the region.
"Asheville has long been considered to be at the center of the fine crafts tradition associated with this region," says Mr. Barker. Much of the reason for this can be attributed to a combination of craftsmanship, marketing, education and geography.
It was the quality of the crafts that first attracted Ms. Goodrich and her Northern and Midwest customers. That is still true today.
"If you drew a circle with its center in Asheville and extended it 200 miles, you would have a record of this country's handcraft history," explains John Cram, a leader in the WNC crafts industry. "There aren't too many regions that can make that claim."
Cram is not surprised by the longevity of the original craft industries that sprang up in the mountains. "I see this industry in a social context," he explains. "This is not about providing objects that will be thrown away over the years. What we are producing are durable goods. When people buy art, they are investing in their objects," Cram adds.
Owner of three distinctive shops, Blue Spiral 1, featuring contemporary art, New Morning Gallery, a showplace for high quality crafts, and Bellagio, with its handcrafted jewelry and clothing, Cram calls Asheville a hotbed of individual dreams.
Perhaps it’s the spirit of the mountains, but artisans of all types were drawn to this region long before it secured its reputation as the "Paris of the South," as it has been called.
The internationally famed Penland School and John C. Campbell Folk School, the nation’s oldest such school, have attracted artists since the 1920s who work in a variety of disciplines.
Today the emphasis has shifted from the preservation of traditional forms to creative expression in craft media.
"What makes this region especially unique is the blending of the old and the new," according to Becky Anderson, executive director for HandMade in America, an organization dedicated to nurturing and preserving the region’s rich craft history.
The organization recently unveiled Western North Carolina’s newest attraction, a series of craft heritage trails that loop through backroads and scenic byways through 21 mountain counties. An easy-to-use guidebook serves as trail map to the many artisan studios, undiscovered shops and galleries, historic inns and quaint diners.
The seven loop trails were created as a means of leading visitors through the twists and turns of our mountains to a treasure trove of handmade objects, Anderson added. "We also wanted to use the craft industry, something indigenous to our region, to bolster the economies of many small rural towns."
Ironically, the mass production and improved highway system that threatened crafts during the turn of the century have also played a role in keeping the traditions alive.
No one predicted the enormous impact the Blue Ridge Parkway would have on the success of Asheville's Folk Art Center. Each year the parkway brings hundreds of thousands of customers and admirers of mountain crafts virtually at the doorstep of guild members who sell and display their work at the center.
Better roads made it to easier to visit the region. But it was the beauty of the mountains and the rolling hills that captured the hearts and imagination of artists and crafts people who visited, and ultimately decided to live and practice here.
Arts and crafts fairs have replaced roadside vendors and classroom instruction has virtually eclipsed the tradition of learning at a father's or a mother's knee. But examples of the craft being passed along to the next generation of family members endure.
In an old building on U.S. 70 in McDowell County, N.C., filled with sawdust and equipment handed down by his grandfather, 63-year-old Max Woody teaches his son, Myron, the craft of chair making.
"I can't explain the satisfaction I get knowing that my son is continuing our family's heritage," said the elder Woody, a seventh-generation chair maker. Side by side, father and son turn, cut, sand and shape the six-slat maple rockers and five-slat walnut rockers that are sold to customers around the globe.
Myron represents the growing number of college-educated people who are bringing a more marketing-oriented and business approach to the crafts industry. Tradition and the present clash occasionally, Myron said, recalling the evolution of how he came to appreciate the love of the craft practiced by his father and grandfather.
"My Dad wanted to make a living with his craft, and I wanted to make a killing. It took me a while to understand I was practicing a way of life as much as a craft."
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