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Backcountry Makers
An Artisan History of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee
Based on the scholarship and recent publication by Betsy K. White
July 31, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Price-Strongwell Galleries
William King Museum of Art
DORA ALDERSON, artist (pictured right)
It was the backcountry when the earliest settlers arrived in what is now Southwest Virginia & Northeast
Tennessee. It wasn’t long before artisans followed settlers, which made sense because they needed everything. It was still the 18th century, and the distance to east coast markets was long and the way difficult.
The journey out was by pack horse or, at best, in big, bulky Conestoga wagons. There was little room for
corner cupboards, bedsteads, earthenware crocks and jars, or, in fact, anything that took up room or was
liable to break.
But once dangers from war and Indian resistance passed, settlement happened quickly. The population of
Washington County, which comprised most of what we know today as Southwest Virginia, in fact, more
than doubled between 1790-1810. Transportation was key to settlement, and much of this centered around
the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, or the Great Road as it was known locally. It was the main migration
route carrying settlers south and west from Pennsylvania down the Valley of Virginia, its branches running
into the Carolinas and through Southwest Virginia.
Most settlement occurred near the Great Road, where towns and communities of settlers and the artisans
who served them emerged. Many started their lives in America in Pennsylvania, often arriving at the port
of Philadelphia. Sometimes it took two or three generations to get all the way down Virginia’s great valley to places like Abingdon, which was a bustling center of commerce due to its position at the crossroads
of good transportation.
The potential for a good market appealed to skilled artisans like cabinetmaker, John Erhart Rose, who arrived in Abingdon by 1810 following a Philadelphia apprenticeship… or Michael Shaver, who arrived at
the same time as an entrepreneurial metalsmith who fashioned sterling silver spoons as well as iron hinges
for wagons. Settlers and artisans alike were mostly German or Scots-Irish. They came with learned preferences blended with new ideas gathered along the long route south and west. What resulted was a lively,
eclectic style….Great Road Style.
As new generations followed, the continuum of blended style moved on as sons took over a father’s trade,
apprenticeships were completed, and newcomers were still attracted by trade and prosperity. The 19th
century became the 20th, factory goods took the place of the handmade, followed by a national revival of
handcrafts with its seeds in the mountains of Southwest Virginia & Northeast Tennessee, and creative individuals simply continued to make their art. It was the backcountry’s place in American material culture
and decorative arts.
In 1910, Dora Alderson was in New York living and, as she told the census taker that
year, working as an artist “doing oil paintings.” Married to Chapman Alderson of
Tazewell, Va., Dora and her family spent summers in Southwest Virginia where she
undoubtedly undertook many commissions for portraits, including that of Governor
Henry Stuart. In 1907, she spent a year studying art in Paris and returned to New York
to study portraiture under William Merritt Chase. She often worked from photographs
of deceased relatives to create the oil portraits that became her signature. In New York,
she painted from life, including a large portrait of J.P. Morgan as well as miniatures of
socialites. When she died in 1960, her obituary noted that she had “painted the portraits
of many outstanding citizens of Southwest Virginia.”
BC Makers: Artisan #42
RUFUS BALL, whittler
Rufus Hurley Ball called himself a “whittler,” not to be confused with carver. Always
with a piece of wood and pocket knife in hand, his precision whittling created little musicians that seemed to be tapping their feet, tiny pocket knives that actually worked, toysized guns with movable parts, countless musical instruments, Indian figures, hunters, women knitting, and men working. Rufus
Ball was born in 1920 at the foot of Big A Mountain in Buchanan County, Va., near the small town of Council where he lived
and whittled until old age.
J. M. BARLOW, potter
Though born in Washington County Va., J. M. Barlow never owned land there nor his own pottery operation. Census records as
well as the variety of different stamps he used point to a potter who moved around among the community of Washington County
potters, his skills enabling him to consistently find work. In 1880, during pottery’s boom period, Barlow was only twenty-four,
living and working with the Osceola potters including J. B. Magee and Alexander Harris. One crock, stamped simply “JM
Barlow” features cobalt decoration, possibly a technique he learned from the older Magee. Barlow’s stamp for Osceola reads,
“Ocala.” A few years later, Barlow was working on the North Fork of the Holston River in the Alum Wells area, and recent
archaeological investigations there have found shards with his Alum Wells mark.
JOHN BURGNER, CHRISTIAN BURGNER,
DANIEL BURGNER, cabinetmakers (work pictured right)
The first general note of the Burgner family of cabinetmakers was in a 1971 article on Tennessee furniture in The Magazine Antiques. Little else was known until
recently when the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) added
to the information noting the Burgners’ unique use of combining figured woods
found locally – curly maple, cherry and walnut – as well as scrolled backsplashes
or galleries. The Burgners were from Switzerland, settling first in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, before migrating down Virginia’s valley to Woodstock and
then finally, by 1840, to Northeast Tennessee. At least three brothers worked as
cabinetmakers in the Horse Creek section of Greene County, and one is also recorded as a cabinetmaker in western North Carolina. Though obviously talented
makers of furniture, none listed their occupation thus….it was always “farmer”.
BC Makers: Artisans #10
ABRAHAM CAIN, WILLIAM CAIN, MARTIN CAIN, potters
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are by James H. Price from Backcountry Makers: An Artisan History of
Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
All profiles in this gallery guide include numbers that correspond to their placement in Backcountry Makers: An
Artisan History of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
Abraham and Martin Cain were members of a multi-generational family of potters. The patriarch, Leonard Cain, was born in
North Carolina in 1832 to German parents. Leonard ultimately lived in Wythe County, Va., before moving with his family to
Sullivan County, Tn., possibly as early as 1812. Two sons, William and Abraham, followed in their father’s footsteps there
while another son, Eli, stayed behind as a potter in Wythe County. William’s son, Martin, also became a potter. By mid-century, the dangers of lead glazing were well known and most potters switched to stoneware, which was less porous. The Cains,
however, continued to produce earthenware pottery. They rarely signed pieces but often added characteristic incised squiggly
lines around the shoulder and sometimes manganese oxide decoration.
PAUL CASEY, carver (pictured left)
Born in 1932, Paul Casey lived in Flag Pond, Tn. when he left to serve in the Korean
War. By his account, he was lucky to come home to the mountains of Unicoi County and
to enjoy a craft he loved. Carving was a lifelong avocation, beginning at age ten when he
commandeered his father’s prize powder horn as his first practice piece. Carved powder
horns have become perhaps his best-known and most collectible pieces. For them, he
began with steer horns and carved them with animal imagery, using a pocket knife for the
intricate parts and a sharp screwdriver for the rest. His preferred woods were chestnut,
walnut, and maple.
ELIZABETH CLARK, spinner and weaver
Elizabeth was a spinster, living her whole life in her father’s house. She called herself a
weaver in 1860 population census for Washington County, Va. This attribution fit her well as Elizabeth’s legacy textiles point to
her obvious skill as a weaver…as well as a “spinster.” Among the earliest of Washington County’s settler families, the Clarks
descended from James and Isabella Breckenridge Clark of Argyll, Scotland. Elizabeth’s older first cousin was Isabella Brackenridge (or Breckenridge) Clark, who was also in Washington County. Elizabeth’s known textiles include a coverlet, dyed perhaps
with walnuts to a warm shade of dark brown, and two ecru-colored woven wool blankets that her family still calls the “oatmeal
blankets”. Elizabeth’s original log home still stands in Glade Spring, Va. She died of pneumonia at age fifty-six and is buried in
the Old Glad Presbyterian Church cemetery.
ISABELLA BRACKENRIDGE CLARK, embroiderer
Isabella was named for her grandmother, Isabella Clark, who, with her new husband James, were the first of her family to arrive
in America, leaving their home in Argyll, Scotland, on the very day of their 1784 wedding. After a few years in Pennsylvania,
James and Isabella made the long journey all the way to Washington County where their descendants have been ever since.
Young Isabella must have been accomplished at needlework since a fine sampler still exists with her name embroidered on it and
the date 1828, making her fifteen at the time she stitched it. When she was nineteen, Isabella married her cousin, John Clark,
who had been born in Argyll. She was left a widow at forty-one and continued alone to manage their farm for the next thirty
years with help from her brother-in-law and her sons, James and William. Isabella died in 1883 and is buried with other members of her family in the Old Glade Presbyterian Church cemetery.
W C COLEMAN, artist
During the 1930s, W. C. Coleman was an itinerant artist from the Pattonsville area of Lee County, Va., peddling his naïve paintings from door to door. The subject matter was usually local scenes such as farmhouses and farmland or local well-known sites
like the Natural Tunnel. He worked in oil and used fabric, possibly flour sacks, as his canvas. He made his own wooden frames
that often included flowers and leaves he carved from wood, painted, and applied to the perimeter. He usually signed his paintings in a bottom corner.
BC Makers: Artisan # 54
LAURA LU SCHERER COPENHAVER, craft entrepreneur
Responding to the backlash of the Industrial Revolution and the resulting renewal of interest in handmade objects, Laura Copenhaver initiated her own business in 1916 that matched local individual artisans with widespread markets. Her entrepreneurial
vision preceded many national and regional initiatives to promote American craft. She named her business Rosemont Industries
and located it in Marion, Va., its center of operations in her spacious home of the same name. Laura found and provided raw
materials to artisans and contracted with them to make goods to order, everything from woven coverlets to hooked rugs to dining
chairs. She was simultaneously giving much-needed work to the local community
as well as promoting Southwest Virginia as a place where top-quality original crafts
were still being made. She marketed the finished products through her mail order
catalog and at New York shows. Laura died in 1940, but her business in still in operation today.
MARY JANE ELAM CULBERTSON, spinner and weaver
(pictured left with her family)
Mary Jane was twenty-seven in 1886 when she married Jacob Culbertson and prob-
ably already proficient as a spinner and weaver on her father’s farm in rural Scott County, Va. She recalled helping her brother
hide food and cattle from the lawless bands of soldiers that roamed the backroads during the waning days of the Civil War. She
and Jacob had their own farm near the tiny town of Snowflake, only removing to “town,” (present-day Gate City) in the fall for
their children to attend school. One of these was a daughter, Carrie, to whom Mary Jane passed down her skills as a maker of
textiles.
CHARLES F. DECKER, potter
Born in 1832 in Germany, Charles Decker arrived in America as a teenager and worked in Richard Remmey’s Philadelphia
pottery operation. By 1857, Decker had started his own manufactory, which he named Keystone Pottery. Between 1866 and
1870, he and his family moved west down the Valley of Virginia to Washington County where he established a pottery operation
on land belonging to A. R. Mallicote. By1873, Decker had moved to Washington County, Tn., where he purchased 100 acres in
Chucky Valley and established another pottery operation, naming it, again, Keystone Pottery. Two sons, Charles Jr. and William, followed in their father’s footsteps as potters and carried the business through the first years of the 20th century. Decker’s
gray stoneware pottery is known for its cobalt blue decoration, and a large body of existing work includes storage crocks canning jars, mugs, pitchers cuspidors, funeral and garden ornaments and even a keg and dog bowl.
J.W.GARDNER, potter (work pictured right)
J. W. Gardner was from Scott County, Va., but shortly before 1870, he purchased 101 acres of land
in adjacent Washington County, Va., along the North Fork of the Holston River. By 1880, he and
his family were actually living there and Gardner, despite listing his occupation as “farmer” in that
year’s census, had letterhead that read “John W Gardner & Co. Manufacturers of Stoneware, Alum
Wells, Washington County, Virginia.” His operation included four sites and employed multiple
hands including the potters J. M. Barlow and E. W. Mort. Gardner pottery usually bears a stamp
that reflects the North Fork locale: “J. W. Gardner & Co, Craig’s Mill, Va.” Another stamp reads,
“J. W. Gardner & Son, Craig’s Mill,” possibly referring to Gardner’s son, J.W. Jr. Most of Gardner’s pottery is plain, brown/gray in color, and utilitarian, but a few pieces feature cobalt decoration
with a characteristic feather design.
MARGARET ANN BUCKLEY GOBBLE, spinner and weaver
Martin Gobble and Margaret Ann Buckley married in 1847. They were young and, encountering some opposition from their
families, decided not to wed close to home in Washington County, Va., but rode on horseback some 40 miles to Blountville, Tn.
on their wedding day. When Margaret Ann married Martin, he was the third generation of his family in America and part of
the large migration of Germans from the Palatinate area of Germany who settled down the Valley of Virginia and in Washington County. Margaret Ann lived among a large family of weavers and spinners whose homes were near the North Fork of the
Holston River. The legacy of her home textiles handed down the generations include coverlets and blankets hand woven from
their farms’ sheep’s wool spun and dyed with madder or indigo, and flax spun into linen towels, linsey-woolsey quilts, crazy
quilts, and more – all saved in pristine condition as if made yesterday.
WALTER STANLEY GOBLE, artist (pictured right)
He signed most of his paintings, “W.S. Goble” and often included the words,
“Holston, Virginia.” This was an old post office address north of Abingdon, just off
the North Fork of the Holston River and extending into the Brumley Gap area. It
must have been where he was from although no record of him there has been found
thus far. At least one person, however, remembers him: “he did odd jobs in the
Abingdon area” and “had grey hair and bushy eyebrows.” Mr. Goble’s work itself is
a record of his being there as he painted stories of his home’s history, cultural activities and natural beauty as he saw it. His oil or pastel paintings were on artist board,
canvas board, and sometimes paper.
C E GOODWIN, weaver
James Goodwin came to America from England in 1837. He was a weaver and settled his family in Tazewell County, Va., where
sheep were plentiful as well as the wool they supplied. His son, Charles Eugene Goodwin, established a long-running production mill there that gathered wool from farmers in Tazewell and the surrounding counties and used it to make blankets. In the
1890s, he installed water-powered looms in his mill, the Clinch Valley Blanket Mill. It was located beside the Clinch River in
Cedar Bluff. With his four sons – Jim, Jake, John, and Ras – Goodwin carried out his weaving business in the mill’s buildings.
The mill could produce up to 50 blankets a day including woven coverlets whose patterns were inspired by their handwoven
counterparts. The Blanket Mill was in business until the 1950s, even supplying blankets to troops in WWI and WWII.
chose to attend Berea College in Kentucky since it offered training in needlework, and ultimately became a professional seamstress, in fact referring to herself that way for Scott County’s 1930 population census. Like many women, Carrie balanced home
life with her career. It is obvious from the exquisite quilts handed down to her descendants as family heirlooms that she also
picked up her needle in her leisure hours.
ANNA GRAYBEAL, artist
ROBERT KEYS, potter
During the Great Depression, the Federal Art Project was designed to give work to artists and provide creative outlets for communities through programs such as art classes. Anna Graybeal enrolled in these classes when they were offered in Mountain
City, Tn. Anna graduated from Johnson City High School in 1912 and taught elementary school until her children were born.
She was still a homemaker in the early 1930s when she started her FAP classes under Annie Matney, who taught them in her
home. Anna excelled and was a prolific painter. Many of her paintings still exist within her family’s collections.
WILLIAM AND DAVID GRIM, tin and coppersmiths
(work pictured left)
Like most potters, Robert Keys regarded himself primarily as a farmer and landowner. He owned approximately 256 acres in
the Osceola area of Washington County, Va., and was a Deputy Sheriff in 1860. He was also apparently a productive potter, listing his Glade Spring pottery operation in the 1860 manufacturer’s census. He ran a pottery business in the Osceola area as well
and in 1871 ran an ad for his “Osceola Stone Ware Factory…dealer in stoneware and water pipes, 7 miles east of Abingdon.”
He worked near J.B. Magee and even collaborated with him on a large stoneware jar that is typical of Keys’ work. This doublesigned piece is rare as it is signed by both potters – “Keys” and “J B Magee.” Robert Keys married Magee’s daughter, Flora.
MABEL BARROW KREGER, master carver (pictured right)
The Grim tin and copper business lasted throughout much of the 19th century and into the
early years of the 20th century. Their shop was in Abingdon where they sold everything
from muffineers and candle molds to stove pipes and guttering. William Grim was born
in 1793 in Winchester, Va., the descendant of settlers from Germany’s Rhineland. He was
in Abingdon by c. 1820 where he spent the rest of his life, raised a large family, and never
forgot his German roots, speaking only German in his home. His daughter, Eliza, married
Francis Smith, an Abingdon contractor and cabinetmaker. His fourth child was a son, David,
who followed his father’s work, maintaining the father/son tin and copper shop in the Odd
Fellows Hall on Main Street. William died in 1879, and David was still working in 1910, listing himself as a “tinner” in the
1910 population census.
“Miz Mabel,” as she was affectionately known, was a master carver working around the turn
of the century in Abingdon. She probably became a skilled artisan only due to an illness. She
was sixteen in 1898 when rheumatic fever put a three-year stop to her beloved horseback riding. She made a courageous and unconventional change in her life by taking up wood carving,
which was being taught as a craft revival art in places like Biltmore Industries in Asheville
and locally at Martha Washington College. Within two years she had mastered the craft and
begun a career that included her own carved furniture as well as teaching at Abingdon’s
Stonewall Jackson Institute. Her signature deep carving, seen in a chair that is believed to be
her first piece, is in stark contrast to the petite feminine girl seen in photos of her at that time.
CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER HAUN, potter
Part of the influx of potters who arrived in Washington County, Va., following the Civil War,
John B. Magee was one of the few artisans in the region to have been born in Canada. Early on, Magee worked in New York before establishing a pottery business in Maryland where he probably became proficient in cobalt-decorated stoneware. By 1870,
Magee had migrated down the Valley of Virginia to Washington County, Va., first working with potter Charles Decker on his
Mallicote farm location before moving, in 1875, to the Osceola area where he purchased land on the Middle Fork of the Holston
River. In 1880, Magee, age 67, was living and working alongside other potters including J.M. Barlow, James A. Wooten, and
Robert Keys. His extant pieces include jars and milk pans that are cobalt-decorated with a consistently styled painted-on flower
and his stamped name plate, also highlighted in cobalt.
Producing some of the most beautiful, skillfully crafted pottery in the region, C. A. Haun was the same Haun who was hanged
on December 11, 1861, for his part in burning a bridge in Greene County, Tn. Though in a Confederate state, Greene County
was a hotbed of divided loyalties during the Civil War. Haun, age 40, lived in the Mohawk-Midway community, known locally
as Pottertown, a place where the clay was good. It was also near a new and important bridge that crossed Lick Creek bringing
supplies and troops to the war effort…the Confederate effort. The bridge burners were caught and swiftly hanged. Haun left
behind a young family including his wife, Elizabeth, who was expecting their fifth child. He also left behind a body of work in
earthenware. Haun used copper or iron oxide, which he found locally, to paint on his pottery in wide bands and cross-hatched
designs. He stamped most of his pieces with his name and added a coggled, almost Greek-inspired, geometric design around the
shoulder.
BC Makers: Artisan # 19
MARY HELTON, basketmaker (pictured left)
She was affectionately known to everyone as “Granny Helton,” but not because there was
anything elderly about her. She was born Mary Rust, married at age 15 and a mother at
sixteen, eventually raising two sons and five daughters. Her home in the rural Rich Valley
section of Washington County, Va., was fertile ground for her love of making baskets. Surrounded by trees, she turned to them daily for over fifty years to supply the materials she
needed. First, she chose a white oak sapling, 4-6 inches in diameter, then cut it down herself.
Next, using her Barlow pocket knife, she stripped off what she needed. She’d do this part on
the front porch, often with a chicken or two as her audience. Mary’s baskets were a staple
at Abingdon’s Cave House Craft Shop and at the Virginia Highlands Festival every summer.
Mary made all sorts of baskets, from 3-bushel tobacco baskets to very small egg baskets just
6-8” wide. She also made covered picnic baskets and pie baskets.
BC Maker: Artisan #58
CARRIE CULBERTSON HILL, seamstress
Carrie was the daughter Mary Jane Elam Culbertson, an accomplished spinner and weaver from Scott County, Va. Carrie must
have watched and helped her mother in home textile activities like spinning wool, turning flax into linen fibers, and weaving
beautiful coverlets or pristine white towels for her family. Carrie grew up to be an accomplished needlewoman herself. She
J. B. MAGEE, potter
HOUSTON RAMEY MALONE, WILLIAM DULANEY MALONE,
chairmakers (work pictured right)
Ramey and William Malone learned to make chairs from their father, George W. Malone,
who was taught by his father, Dulaney Malone. Their chairs are easily recognized by a bold
MALONE emblazoned on one of the wide back rails. Their shop was located on Reedy Creek
near Bristol, Va., with their homeplace adjacent. The family relates how the brothers would take
their 1918 Nash-Quad into the woods to cut the timber they needed and then haul it back home
to their own sawmill. They worked together as partners, William operating the lathe and Ramey assembling the chairs. They sold them in both Bristol and Abingdon, where they lined the
porch of the Martha Washington Inn, as well as in Texas, where, due to their sturdiness, they
were bought for the school system.
BC Makers: Artisans # 48
EMMA MARSHALL, cornshuck doll maker
Sandy Ridge is a mountain community in Wise County Va., about half way between the small
towns of Coeburn and St. Paul. Above both towns, it seems remote and apart from the bustle of life below. Yet this was a tiny
but important hub of the craft revival movement of the 1930s and 1940s. Emma Kilgore Marshall was one of its key figures.
The Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia maintained a mission house on Sandy Ridge called Grace House on the Mountain. Staffed by deaconesses like Mabel Mansfiled, Grace House provided programs for women – quilting and other household activities as well as craftmaking. One craft on offer was making little cornshuck dolls. Emma, a young wife at the time,
excelled and became well-known for her cornshuck dolls that included women spinning, farmers plowing and hoeing, nursery
rhyme figures, and nativity scenes. Her miniature figures were sold many places, including through the Southern Highland
Handicraft Guild near Asheville, NC, and some remain in their collection.
D. L. MILLSAPS, woodworker
Dave Millsaps served under Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish American
War and developed a friendship with him that led to a visit from Roosevelt
to Millsaps’ Damascus, Va., home in 1908 after Millsaps had returned
as a disabled veteran. Later, while recuperating from an illness during
the 1930s, Millsaps took up whittling, making little bears with minutely
fashioned fur and that appeared to have smiles on their faces. Though he
carved other types of animals including wolves, bears, dogs, camels, and
mules, his bears have remained the most collectible. In fact, his old friend,
Teddy Roosevelt, kept one on his desk as a paperweight. Millsaps was also
known to make furniture and was a building contractor and lead carpenter for a number of Victorian homes in Damascus.
WILLIAM M. PLUMMER, inventor and cabinetmaker
(pictured right with his family)
Inventor, engineer, furniture and musical instrument maker, as well as crafter of
bicycles, motorcycles, and even airplanes – Bill Plummer was an entrepreneurial
artisan of many talents. Born in 1878 to Claiburn and Seenah Plummer, he spent
his early life in Smyth County, Va. In 1897, he married Magdalene Floyd and they
moved to Jeffersonville, now known as Tazewell, Va., where Bill worked as a
sawmill engineer. There, they started their family, which eventually included ten
children. After a few years, they moved back to Smyth County where they lived
for the rest of their lives, Bill working in the automobile industry. It was about his
time – c.1920 – that he began to make objects that reflected his range of talents
and sense of flair. One of his bicycles was included in an Atlanta exposition around
1950 and several of his handmade objects are in the collection of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art.
BC Makers: Artisan # 43.
E.W. MORT, potter
SARA JANE RAMBO, IDA RAMBO, BLENDER RAMBO, spinners,
weavers and embroiderers (Ida pictured right)
CLINTON JOSEPH MOSS, folk sculptor
GEORGE WASHINGTON ROSE, JOHN DANIEL ROSE,
JACKSON MARION ROSE, cabinetmakers
Although he grew up in Strasburg, Va., an area known for numerous stoneware potters, Edward William Mort did not seem to
learn his skills as a potter there. While still a young boy, Mort lost his father during the Civil War and moved with his widowed
mother from Strasburg to her childhood home in Washington County, Va. He learned to make pottery among the potters working in the Alum Wells area of the North Fork of the Holston River. Shards with his stamp, “E W Mort, Alum Wells,” have been
found at the North Fork site of the Gardner pottery. An 1881 ad in the Bristol News indicates that Mort was in full operation
on his own: “Stoneware, Alum Wells Pottery, I am now running to its full capacity the Alum Wells Pottery….” Mort married
Amanda Cunningham in 1893 and thereafter divided his time between pottery and being a Methodist minister.
C.J. Moss was from Burkes Garden, a small mountaintop community above Tazewell, Va. Born in 1882, he was the oldest of
eight children born to Frank and Sallie Moss. He married Hattie Brooks Greever from another Burkes Garden family, and there
they settled to live. An illness caused C.J. to be bedridden for two years prior to his death in 1945. To pass the time, he took
up fashioning small sculptures from found objects like corn cobs and sea shells, endowing them with his own philosophy in the
form of a poem or message which he wrote and attached to each one. A strong churchman, one of his messages seems to define
him: “I love people, creatures, and all of His mighty and wonderful works in nature. It makes me know there is a God. Though
he slay me yet I will trust him.” His little figures, all approximately 3-4 inches high, include sheep, dogs, cows, elephants, and
little people.
BC Makers: Artisan #59.
ELIZABETH ROSENBAUM PATTERSON, spinner and weaver
(pictured left)
Skilled as a weaver, and possessing a good eye for design, Elizabeth Patterson produced textiles for
her family that went beyond utility towards artistry. She was born in 1828, the eldest child of Mary
Ann and Valentine Fox. In 1850, she married Sampson Patterson with whom she had eight children: six daughters and two sons. She lived to old age in her brick home, which still stands today
in the Friendship community in Washington County, Va.
WILLIAM PHELPS, JACK PHELPS, cabinetmakers
Both twentieth century cabinetmakers from Washington County, Va., William Phelps and his son,
Jack, made furniture by hand inspired by period pieces including those made in the Queen Anne
and Chippendale styles of the18th and early 19th centuries. William’s working period was from
c.1935 through 1969, the year of his death. Jack’s was from c. 1965 until his own death in 1987.
Both made furniture of exceptional quality, many examples in local homes today. The only difference between the work of father and son was their choice of tools. William preferred hand tools and worked in the way of
the traditional craftsman. Jack stocked his workshop with the latest power tools. Furniture made by William and Jack Phelps
included beds, tables, tall clocks, desks, shaving stands, corner cupboards, chairs, and cradles.
Sara Jane was the mother of Ida and Blender, the two of her four daughters who followed in their
mother’s footsteps as producers of many beautiful home textiles. They lived in Washington County,
Va., in the log home built by their ancestor, Ezekial Rambo, on land he acquired in 1795. Most of the
Rambo textiles that survive were made in this log home which still stands today, complete with its
old loom and other weaving equipment. Blender and Ida never married but stayed at home with their
parents, the census taker in 1910 finding them there at ages forty-three and thirty-three.
Three sons of John Erhart Rose, they operated cabinet shops in Abingdon from c. 1842 through the early years of the 20th
century, at the end replacing handmade furniture with factory-made as the market demanded. Before this, however, the Rose
brothers owned and operated two shops on Abingdon’s Main Street during the 19th century, producing popular furniture forms,
many with paper labels attached to the backs, everything from chests of drawers, beds and wardrobes to sofas and safes, as well
as what may be their signature form…the two-piece cupboard with a cabinet bottom of drawers or shelves with doors and glazed
bookcase top with a strong, raked cornice. Jackson Marion, the youngest son, was the only brother to be long-lived and who
continued the Rose name into the twentieth century as modern retailers of furniture.
JOHN ERHART ROSE, cabinetmaker
Born in Pennsylvania in 1767, John E. Rose grew up in Reading. He was the grandson of a German weaver and son of a clockmaker. He completed a cabinetmaker’s regular seven-year apprenticeship in Philadelphia by age 21 and probably returned to
Reading, perhaps to case his father’s clocks. During the first decade of the 19th century, he left Philadelphia, arriving in Abingdon, Va., in time to be included in the 1810 censu. He set up shop and met and married Sally McClain. They had seven children,
three sons becoming cabinetmakers in Abingdon. Around 1820, Rose moved his family to Knoxville, Tn., where he produced
elaborately carved furniture different from the restrained style of his Virginia pieces. By 1830, the Rose family returned to
Abingdon where all but John remained. He began a period of traveling back and forth
between Virginia and Pennsylvania, continuing to make furniture wherever he was.
In 1863, John died of pneumonia in Abingdon at the age of ninety-three.
ED AND MARY SCHEIER, potters (pictured right)
Mary Goldsmith was from Salem, Va., and Ed Scheier was from the Bronx. The New
Deal’s Federal Art Project brought them together in 1937 in Big Stone Gap, Va. Mary
was heading the FAP art center there and Ed was on a site visit from the Washington
office. Friendship led to love and marriage, and soon they were heading to Norris,
Tn. where Ed headed another FAP center and both began an interest in ceramics that
became a lifelong vocation as art potters. Soon serendipity stepped in when they
stopped in Glade Spring, a small town in Southwest Virginia, on their way from Ten-
nessee to Salem and decided to set up their first pottery operation there. They called it Hillcrock Pottery, their groundhog kiln
holding as many as 600 pieces. It wasn’t long, however, before their talents were recognized at a ceramics conference at Black
Mountain, NC., and they were off again, this time with faculty appointments at the University of New Hampshire. Even after
retirement in 1968 they continued to be prolific potters, and today their pottery is widely collected by individuals and museums.
BC Makers: Artisan #
MICHAEL SHAVER, silversmith
(portrait of Michael painted by Samuel shown left)
Though other silversmiths were working in the area, Michael Shaver’s silver is among
the few examples found. Michael and his brother, David, arrived in Abingdon from North
Carolina in the closing years of the 18th century. David stayed only a few years before
moving to Sullivan County, Tn., but Michael stayed for the rest of his life, serving for a
time on Abingdon’s town council. He married twice and was the father of six sons, maintaining his home and metal workshops on Abingdon’s Main Street. Surprisingly, he didn’t
refer to himself as a silversmith but as a jeweler, blacksmith, and even a dentist. His
nephew, Samuel Shaver, was a portrait painter and evidently knew better since his c.1840
portrait of his uncle includes a silver-topped cane. Michael Shaver died in 1859 at the age
of eighty-four.
SAMUEL SHAVER, artist
A prolific portrait artist, Samuel Shaver worked in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee during the first half of the 19th century. He was the nephew of Abingdon silversmith, Michael Shaver, and, in fact, one of his earliest portraits is of his uncle. In 1845, Samuel married Mary Hannah Elizabeth
Powel of nearby Rogersville in Hawkins County, Tn. The daughter of Congressman Samuel Powel, she provided many contacts
for Samuel’s growing career as a portrait painter. He also taught art at the Odd Fellows Female Institute there. His portraits
include family groups, children and politicians, eventually resulting in more than 100 known portraits. He moved to Knoxville
around 1859 and then to Illinois. He was still painting there in 1870 and referred to his occupation as “portrait painter.”
over sixty and childless when Warren began his apprenticeship and perhaps looked upon young Milton as a son. Warren married
Fannie, the daughter of another gunsmith, James Parker Curtis, and established his home and gunshop next to Whiteside. They
named their second child, a son, John M. Warren.
BC Makers: Artisan #15.
JOHN M. WHITESIDE, gunsmith (work pictured left)
“My boss was something of an artist in making the designs for the scroll wire
inlaying he delighted in.” These words by Whiteside’s young apprentice, Milton Warrren, aptly speak to the expertise and creativity of this gunsmith who
descended from skilled artisans - the grandson of a gunsmith and silversmith
from Rockbridge County, Va., and the son of a clocksmith. Born in Rockbridge
County, Whiteside moved to Washington County, Va. around 1850 when he
established his gun shop south of Abingdon. By 1870, he had a sizable operation that included Warren as an apprentice. Whiteside’s habit was to go into the
woods around his shop to find the best trees, using walnut or apple but always
preferring curly maple which “can be finished with various stains and is just about the prettiest wood in the world.”
JOHN WOOTEN, JAMES L. WOOTEN, JAMES A.WOOTEN, JOSEPHUS WOOTEN, potters
The patriarch of four generations of potters, John Wooten was born in western North Carolina. He was in Washington County,
Va., by 1840 and listed as a potter in its 1850 population census, along with his son, James L. Wooten, age 22. Both were potters in the Osceola area on the Middle Fork of the Holston River. By 1880, James L.’s son, James Alexander Wooten was 32
and also a potter. This was the boom period for stoneware, and the Wooten potters lived close by others including J.B. Magee,
J. M. Barlow, Alexander Harris and the Vestal family of potters. Intermarriage among pottery families was common; Harriet
Vestal was James Alexander Wooten’s wife. By 1880, the Wootens also maintained a pottery manufactory on the North Fork
of the Holston River in Alum Wells. A 1992 archeological dig at this site revealed “the base to a small undraft kiln.” Josephus
Wooten, fourth generation potter, was only seven years old in 1880 but continued the family tradition into the 20th century, the
pottery closing with his death in 1918.
FRANCIS SMITH, cabinetmaker
Though many local artisans were of German heritage, Francis Smith was the exception, born in County Monahan, Ireland, in
1815. He was skilled at related trades, in fact referring to himself as a “master carpenter” and in 1855 placed an ad in an Abingdon newspaper for “house carpentry.” He married Eliza Grim, daughter of Abingdon tinsmith, William Grim. Their marriage
took place in Scott County, Va., at Holston Springs. Francis and Eliza made their home in Abingdon where they raised ten children. An empire sideboard with tiered display shelves, tables, washstand, and chest of drawers are among his surviving pieces
and owned by his descendants. It is not known if Francis Smith made furniture as a retail endeavor as solely for his family.
THOMAS, JESSEE, JAMES VESTAL, potters (pictured left)
Jessee Vestal (1828-1904) is the best known of the Vestal potters perhaps because he signed
so many of his pieces in a bold incised script, even providing a date. He was the son, brother,
cousin, and father to other Vestals who made pottery in Washington County, Va., Jessee’s father, Thomas Vestal, was born in North Carolina in 1803 and was living in Washington County
by 1840, listed in that year’s population census as James Thomas Vestal and in 1850’s manufacturer’s census as a potter employing three hands. One of these was probably his son, Jessee,
who just the year before had produced his masterpiece, an 18-inch stoneware brandy jug with a
poem elaborately incised around the body. His son, James, became the third generation of Vestal
potters and followed his father’s tradition of signing some of his pieces in script. The Vestals lived and made stoneware pottery throughout the 19th century in the Osceola area on the
Middle Fork of the Holston River.
MILTON WARREN, gunsmith
Warren served a regular apprenticeship under Washington County, Va., gunsmith, John Whiteside, that lasted from age thirteen
until he was twenty-one. His account of the Whiteside gunshop appeared in John Dillin’s book, The Kentucky Rifle, and provides an insight into the busy work of 19th century gunsmiths and the hunting culture they served. “There were rifles in every
home – the man who was too poor to own one was considered destitute. We all hunted,” observed Warren. Whiteside was just
Thank you to Backcountry Makers lenders and contributors
Betty Atkins, Mary Jo Case,
Kent Chrisman, Charles and Katherine Clark
J. W. and Helen Clark, Tom and Rita Copenhaver,
Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park,
Ken Culbertson, Frank and Frances Detweiler,
Dickson-Williams Mansion, Betty Fugate,
Kathy Hale and Bill Hill, Jean Hale,
Alethia Haynes, Pauline Heffinger,
Historical Society of Washington County, Rick and Susan Humphreys,
Sallie Hurt, Ben and Merry Jennings,
Jo Johnston, Marcus King,
Jean Kreger, Ida McVey,
Billie Pectal, James Price,
Peggy Riley, Kyle Robinson,
Betty J. Rodefer, Larry and Joan Sells,
John Henry and Pat Smith, Southern Highland Craft Guild,
Ramsey and Betsy White
William King Museum of Art Cultural Heritage Collection
William King Museum of Art
415 Academy Drive • Abingdon, VA 24210
276.628.5005 • www.WilliamKingMuseum.org
Annual programming at William King Museum of Art is supported through gifts and grants from the
Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Town of Abingdon
and Washington County, Virginia Tourism Corporation, other municipalities, the Southwest Virginia
Public Education Consortium, businesses, foundations, civic clubs, and the generous contributions
of our members and patrons.
This exhibit is sponsored by:
The Honorable and
Mrs. James P. Jones
Backcountry Makers is the 31st exhibition resulting from the Betsy K. White Cultural Heritage
Project, which documents and presents the artistic legacy of Southwest Virginia and Northeast
Tennessee.
Backcountry Makers: An Artisan History of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee is
published by The University of Tenneessee Press, Knoxville
Partner of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Member of the American Association of Museums and the Virginia Association of Museums

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