Traditional Arts Story Archives - Page 2 of 2 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Taking On The Trail And Celebrating 50 Years of Augusta Heritage, Inside Appalachia

This week, we step on the Appalachian Trail with one of America’s most accomplished hikers, Jennifer Pharr Davis. We also talk to the director of the Augusta Heritage Center. Each summer, dozens of students attend workshops to learn traditional skills. This year, the center is turning 50. We’ll also visit the steel drum capital of America — which, believe it or not, is right here in Appalachia.

This week, we step on the Appalachian Trail with one of America’s most accomplished hikers, Jennifer Pharr Davis.

We also talk to the director of the Augusta Heritage Center. Each summer, dozens of students attend workshops to learn traditional skills. This year, the center is turning 50.

We’ll also visit the steel drum capital of America — which, believe it or not, is right here in Appalachia.

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

In This Episode:

Talking Trails With Hiking Phenom Jennifer Pharr Davis
Augusta Heritage Center Celebrates 50 Years
The Appalachian Capital Of The Steel Drum

Talking Trails With Hiking Phenom Jennifer Pharr Davis

Few people know the Appalachian Trail better than Jennifer Pharr Davis, a North Carolina native who’s through-hiked the trail three times and set speed records. Davis continues to blaze new pathways and has become a celebrity in the world of outdoor recreation.

Host Mason Adams spoke to her about some of her hikes — and how they shaped her identity as an Appalachian.

Augusta Heritage Center Celebrates 50 Years

The Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia has become a destination for the study and preservation of traditional arts, music and crafts. To celebrate its 50th year, the center wants to bring more West Virginia high school students to its summer workshops — for free.

Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Executive Director Seth Young about the center’s mission and plans for its summer workshops.

The Appalachian Capital Of The Steel Drum

Keith Moone works on a steel drum Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, at the Manette Musical Instruments workshop in Osage, W.Va. *Credit: Jesse Wright/100 Days in Appalachia*

You’ve almost certainly heard the steel drum. It’s a quintessential Caribbean instrument, used in Calypso and Reggae and all kinds of pop music. But here’s a surprise: Some of the best steel drums in the world are made in…West Virginia.

Folkways Reporter Zack Harold has the story.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jesse Milnes, The Steel Drivers, Tyler Childers, the Carolina Chocolate Drops with Rhiannon Giddons, and Amythyst Kiah.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

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

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

And you can sign up for our Inside Appalachia Newsletter here!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Meet One of the Last Remaining Broom Makers in Appalachia

Along Davis Creek, in Loudendale, WV, outside of Charleston, there’s a long green building on the side of the road with the words “Charleston Broom and Mop Co.” painted on the side. That building is the workshop of James Shaffer, who at age 87, is the last hand-made commercial broom maker in the state. He first learned the trade in 1946, meaning he’s been making brooms for 70 years.

Schaffer is tall, sporting jeans and suspenders, with a friendly face and big smile. He stands at a machine in his dusty workshop, attaching straw to a broomstick. His hands move adeptly, adding straw by the handful. He’s done this so long, he doesn’t need to measure- he can build a broom by feel.

Building a Broom by Feel: An Interview with James Shaffer

The broom style and the equipment he uses hasn’t really changed since Jim first started making them when he was 17.

“The change has been in the usage of brooms. Instead of sweeping sidewalks and outside garage areas and everything, they use the gasoline blowers now to blow the dirt and dust away,” says Schaffer. “Same thing in the house with these new laminate floors they have, they’re so slick that they’ve developed dust mop type things for those sweeping the house. So the broom industry is fading out. I suspect another 5-7 years you won’t find a straw broom in the store.”

Today, Schaffer’s main customers are local Lions Clubs who buy them and sell them for their annual fundraisers. “If it wasn’t for Lions Clubs selling brooms as their fundraisers, I wouldn’t have a business today. Walmart, Kmart, and Kroger’s have took all that over now and you don’t have any mom and pop stores to buy from the wholesale distributors, so they all went out of business,” Schaffer says.

Jim also sells at Pile Hardware, a local store that’s been operating on Charleston’s West Side for 84 years. Bill Pile owns the store and says customers even make trips to Charleston just to buy Jim’s brooms. “He does it out of pride! I mean, when he turns out a broom, he wants it to be just right. He’s proud of it!” says Pile.

While James Schaffer may have slowed down in his 70 years on the job, that’s not apparent from the tall stacks of brooms lining his workshop. When he’s gone, though, it isn’t clear how the broom making tradition will continue in West Virginia.

“Well, when I finally give up on it, I guess it’ll just die. A lot of people at the Lions Clubs kind of worry about it, some of them have even considered trying to run it on their own and but nobody’s come up. It’s just not a profitable enough business..”

Schaffer has taught some apprentices over the years, but no one has stuck with it. When it comes to retirement though, he isn’t interested.

“Well, you gotta have something to do! And you know I feel great all day every day, so I have to do something. If I wasn’t here making brooms, I’d maybe be over at McDonalds making hamburgers or something! You need to keep yourself occupied and busy if you’re able to, and thank goodness I’ve been able to pretty much all my life.”

Schaffer says that the only downfall to his job is that he does get lonely. “Sometimes I’ll go a week without somebody walking through the door, but it really doesn’t bother me a whole lot, but I do enjoy company,” he says.

He always appreciates visitors. He’ll even make a special broom for you right on the spot.

You can find Jim Shaffer’s brooms at Charleston Broom and Mop Co. in Loudendale, or Pile Hardware on Charleston’s West Side.

Emily Hilliard is the West Virginia State Folklorist with the West Virginia Humanities Council. Learn more about the West Virginia Folklife Program, a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council, at wvfolklife.org.

Hear this story and more on Inside Appalachia in the episode called, Does Holding on to Appalachian Traditions Matter?

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Pricketts Fort Forges New Connections By Teaching Old Skills

The blacksmith is one of the most enduring figures from the early days of American history. The art form calls to mind strength, ingenuity and craftsmanship…fire, iron and sweat. But in the age of technology and 3-D printers, what’s to become of this time-tested trade? One West Virginia state park is taking steps to forge new interest in traditional arts.

On this cool-for-mid-August day at Pricketts Fort State Park, coals in this blacksmith shop are burning hot and bright, fanned by bursts of air from a gi-normous bellows suspended from the ceiling. Most days this is where you would encounter a park employee demonstrating the art of blacksmithing.

But today, a group of students is getting the chance to try the craft as part of a three-day hands-on workshop.

Jim Mays works on applying the techniques he has learned in the Pricketts Fort Blacksmithing Workshop.

“I’m Jim Mays, living in Farmington right now but originally from East Side of Fairmont. This is on my bucket list of what I wanted to do, so a good chance to get it done.”

Mays is a retired steelworker who did construction and ran heavy equipment in the coal mines. He has a small forge at home and is taking the class in hopes of learning a new skill. He watches closely as the instructor demonstrates techniques.

“There are several things I want to try to make,” says Mays. “He’s a good teacher. He’s got some – gotta lot of patience.”

The patient instructor is Greg Bray, Executive Director of Pricketts Fort. Bray first learned the craft at the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis & Elkins College. He’s now earned his living as a blacksmith for more than twenty years, but he can remember that initial learning curve.

“This is the beginning class. They all struggle just a little bit and it gets frustrating for ‘em. It was frustrating for me when I started,” says Bray. “And I tell that story every time I start a class – a new class – and I tell how frustrated I was and how I almost didn’t pursue it and that kind of helps them out a little bit.”

Greg Bray shows Chuck Huff of Fayetteville, Georgia a technique during the Pricketts Fort Blacksmithing Workshop.

“My name is Chuck Huff. I’m from Fayetteville, Georgia. It is challenging, I mean, it’s a little harder than I thought, but you learn a lot. It’s very interesting – but difficult.”

Use your tongs. Take your time. Don't get in a big hurry, because if you start hurrying and rush around, these things are going to flop around – move around – and you're not going to get anything accomplished. – Greg Bray to students in the Pricketts Fort Blacksmithing Workshop

“My name is Ed Harris. I’m from Rivesville West Virginia and I’m taking the class – several reasons. A new hobby. To make something. My wife is into crafts and she likes the 17^th and 18^th century decorations and so I said well I’ll see if can make ‘em.”

His favorite part of the class so far?

“The challenge of learning something new with my hands and seeing the art – the art form.”

Generating enthusiasm for the art form and for the past is one of the goals of the workshop. But Bray says there is another reason – and that is to make sure this type of opportunity is available in the future.

“If you don’t pass this on – if you don’t find people that care about it and want to try it and want to do it, then it’s going to be lost,” says Bray. “And we’re seeing that in our staffing today because there’s not a lot of new people coming up – we’re all getting older out here at the fort and we’re not seeing new people coming up.”

Jim Hays and Ed Harris team up to practice what they’ve learned at the Pricketts Fort Blacksmithing Workshop.

Bray is encouraged by the response to the workshops. He offers them two or three times a year. One gentleman who has taken the blacksmithing workshop twice stopped by today to visit the fort. Bob Minney recruited his army buddy, Chuck Huff, to come up for the class. Minney regrets not learning these skills from his grandfather and father, but says he’s very glad that Pricketts Fort is taking up the slack and teaching all sorts of traditional arts and trades skills to the current generation.

“I recommend – learn to do things with your hands – get back to not just buying and throwing away – but repair and make things,” says Minney. “And it’s satisfying – it’s good for the soul. That’s all!”

“The whole thing’s a process and – if I keep you on the same thing over and over again you’re going to get aggravated,” Bray tells the students. “So I try to mix it up – but it’s a process so – give it a shot.”