Southern Makers
The White Oak Basket Makers of Appalachia
A few mountain hands can still turn a living white oak into a basket that outlasts its maker. It begins not with weaving but with a tree.
Southern Makers
Artisans, small businesses, and things made by hand.
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Southern Makers
The Blacksmith, and the Oldest Fire in Town
There was a time every Southern town had a forge at its heart. The smiths still working by hand keep alive one of the oldest crafts there is.
Southern Makers
The Dulcimer Makers, and the Sound That Came Down the Mountains
The Appalachian dulcimer is the rare American instrument, born in the mountain South. The people who still build them by hand keep a whole tradition alive.
More in Southern Makers
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The Decoy Carvers of the Southern Coast A working duck decoy is just a block of wood carved into a bird, but on the Southern coast it carries three hundred years of craft handed down. -
Seagrove, Where the Clay Remembers In a rural pocket of North Carolina, more than a hundred potters work the same red clay their predecessors dug 250 years ago. -
The Boatbuilders of Bayou La Batre For a few decades, one small Alabama town built more shrimp trawlers than almost anywhere on earth. Bayou La Batre's story is the story of the working Gulf.