Today was a very full day.
We received an introduction to some of the culture and attractions of
the Blue Ridge Mountain near the southern end of the Shenandoah
Valley. The day started with breakfast
at a local eatery near the campground and then we traveled to the “crafty” town of
Sparta, North Carolina. We visited a
local woodworking business and then explored some of the downtown stores and
shops. In the early afternoon, we
visited a local wood carver who specializes in bird carvings. Later in the afternoon, we went into downtown
Galax, Virginia to see an antique car show on the main streets and wrapped up
the day attending a performance of a live radio broadcast featuring mountain
music.
Breakfast Out
The day started by frequenting a local restaurant for
breakfast. It wasn’t fancy, but it did
serve excellent food. When the twenty-four
of us swarmed in the door, the few local diners looked up to wonder what was
happening to their quiet eatery.
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| Waiting for Breakfast to be Served |
Blue Ridge Woodcrafters
After breakfast, we drove in our carpools to Sparta, North
Carolina for a tour of the Blue Ridge Woodcrafters. The owner, John Brady, and three members of his staff
explained that the company primarily makes wooden furniture (benches, coat
racks, tables, etc.), accessory items (lazy Susans, cutting boards, serving
trays, baskets, etc.), and wooden toys.
Much of the wood is reclaimed from torn down buildings, so it generally
contains a considerable amount of “character.”
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| A Sample of Some "Live Edge" Wood |
During our tour, one of the craftswomen demonstrated how she
assembles, glues, and clamps wood strips while making a lazy Susan. She stated that it was not unusual to have 8
to 10 work pieces in progress at any one time.
She then explained that after allowing the glue to cure she uses various
machinery to sand and cut the piece into its final shape. Once the piece is properly shaped, another of
the ladies applies several coats of finish to complete the item for
sale.
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| Demonstrating Cutting Wood Into Strips for a Lazy Susan |
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| Lazy Susans in the Storage Area Ready for the Next Show |
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| Wooden Baskets Available for Sale |
We also received a tour of Santa’s Workshop in an upper
level of the shop. The master toy maker
exhibited toy cars and described the process and tools he uses to convert a block of
wood into a properly shaped and finished toy.
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| We Try Out Some of Furniture Made in the Shop |
Wood Carving
After lunch, we drove out to “A Bird in Hand … by Dan” where
we met Dan Abernathy, a renowned
wood carver. Dan took time from his busy day to give us a tour of his
workshop and describe how he started carving with a knife and progressed to
using electric cutting and shaping tools.
Dan also demonstrated how he uses electric wood burning blades to
cut fine details, like bird feathers, into his works of art. Oh, by the way, Dan also had several carved
birds on a display table that were available for sale.
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| Carved Wooden Birds on Display |
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| Dan Abernathy Explains How He Carves Birds From a Blank of Wood |
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| We Watch as Dan Described How He Makes Feet for His Birds |
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| Dan's Wife Displays Her Homemade Baskets Available For Sale |
Galax Antique Auto Show
In late afternoon, we drove into downtown Galax to view an antique auto show set up on the main streets of the town. The best guess is that there in the
neighborhood of 200 vehicles lined up on the streets. A large proportion of the cars were Chevrolets
and Fords ranging from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. Many of the vehicles were restored stock
cars, but there were also many custom vehicles on displayed. For many of the men in our group, this was
truly a trip down memory lane.
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| A '55 Chevy Shows Its Stuff |
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| Who Says a Cummins Diesel Engine is Only for Motor Coaches |
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| Diesel Anyone? |
Blue Ridge Back Roads Radio Show
As the afternoon turned into evening, we
assembled at the Rex Theater in downtown Galax to attend a performance of the
Blue Ridge Back Roads radio program.
This is a live two-hour music performance of mountain and bluegrass
music that is broadcast on a local radio station. In additional to excellent mountain music, we
were entertained by a group of local audience members who came to dance. At the very first note of the
evening, until the very last, this group composed of a teenage girl along with
her grandfather, a “really old” gentleman who many of us thought might have the
“big one” before the evening was over, and many middle-age to senior-aged
adults, were clogging and two-stepping their way around the small dance floor in
front of the stage. Only John and Rita
from our group ventured onto the dance floor for one of the numbers while the
rest of us toe-tapped in our seats.
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| Dancers in the Foreground Enjoy Their Clogging |
