Furniture Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Chair Caning And A Housing Fight, Inside Appalachia

This week, we visit the Seeing Hand Association. They bring together people who are visually impaired to learn the craft of chair caning. Also, corporate greed has been gobbling up newspapers for years. Now, some of those same companies are taking a bite out of mobile home parks. They’re raising rents and letting repairs slide. And, as the Mountain Valley Pipeline nears completion, people who live near it say government officials are ignoring their concerns about pollution.

This week, we visit the Seeing Hand Association. They bring together people who are visually impaired to learn the craft of chair caning.

Corporate greed has been gobbling up newspapers for years. Now, some of those same companies are taking a bite out of mobile home parks. They’re raising rents and letting repairs slide.

And, as the Mountain Valley Pipeline nears completion, people who live near it say government officials are ignoring their concerns about pollution.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Seeing Hand Fixes More Than Chairs

Employees restore caned chairs at the Seeing Hand workshop in Wheeling, West Virginia.

*Photo Credit: Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

A lot of folks in Appalachia grew up with caned chairs in the house. Maybe your parents or grandparents had a set in the kitchen, but you don’t see the old caned chairs as much as you used to. Cane breaks down and needs to be replaced. Few people know where to go to fix their chairs. So, a lot of them are discarded or thrown away. But they don’t have to be.

At a workshop in Wheeling, WV, a community of skilled workers repair old chairs and show that not everything that looks broken has to be thrown out. Folkways reporter Clara Haizlett brought us the story.

Quilting In The New, Traditional Way

Shane Foster pictured with a quilt made by his great-grandmother.

*Photo Credit: Liz Pahl/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Passing on traditional knowledge happens in different ways. Shane Foster is an optometrist in Ohio and an avid quilter. Quilting had been in his family for generations, but to learn this traditional craft, Foster chose a way that’s a little less traditional.

From 2022, Folkways Reporter Liz Pahl has this story.

David Vs. Goliath At A Mobile Home Park

After a new owner took control of a mobile home park in Mercer County, West Virginia, the rents went up, and it seemed like less was done to take care of problems. One resident started looking into exactly who this new owner was.

Mason Adams brought us the story.

West Virginia Flood Concerns

The floods of 2016 devastated several counties and it has taken seven years for them to be mostly returned to normal.

*Photo Credit: Kara Lofton/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Flooding has always been a threat in Appalachia, but over the past few decades, severe floods have become more frequent.

Curtis Tate spoke with Nicolas Zegre, an associate professor of forest hydrology at West Virginia University, about why West Virginia is so prone to flooding.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by John Blissard, John Inghram, Tim Bing, Gerry Milnes, Mary Hott, and Tyler Childers.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

West Virginia Top Judge Sends Furniture to Warehouse

The chief justice of West Virginia’s highest court has been parting with furniture this week.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that workers on Thursday took a desk from Justice Allen Loughry’s Charleston home to a Supreme Court warehouse.

On Monday, Loughry had court employees take a leather couch from his home to the court warehouse.

That followed a column in the newspaper questioning the couch’s whereabouts.

Loughry said it wasn’t state property but bought by the late Justice Joe Albright, whose widow and son didn’t want it and whose son told him to keep it.

He has now donated it to the state to avoid innuendo, he said.

Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy said it’s appropriate justices have state desks and computers at home, where they also work. “The desk was not returned because its use was inappropriate, but because issues such as this are becoming an obstacle to the court completing its important work,” she said.

The five-member court has faced recent criticism over $3.7 million spent to renovate court offices over the past several years.

Loughry has blamed former court administrator Steve Canterbury, whom he fired in January, for the expenditures.

Canterbury said he did what the justices asked him to do.

Antiques Roadshow Would Like to See More W. Va. Furniture

The producers of Antiques Roadshow would like to see more furniture from West Virginia. The popular appraisal show will be in Charleston in August and time is running out to submit your family’s furniture heirlooms.

So far, West Virginians have submitted photos of 76 pieces of furniture, but Antiques Roadshow executive producer Marsha Bemko would like to see a lot more.

“We’re going to pick 8 to 10 pieces of furniture from this pool of applicants who are sending us the pictures they want us to move. And we move these pieces of furniture at our expense. This is a great opportunity for us to do all of the work and tell you more about your furniture.”

A professional moving company will transport your furniture to Charleston to be appraised. There is a 50 mile radius limit, but Bemko says don’t let that stop you from sending in your photos.

“Send what you’ve got. Let us have the chance to ponder it.”

The deadline to submit photos is April 7. If your furniture is selected for appraisal, you’ll get two tickets to the Antiques Roadshow on August 16 and get to bring four other items to be appraised.