The online NCpedia, maintained by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, offers an excerpt from Marshall’s Encyclopedia article, accompanied by a great slideshow that provides an inside view of yesteryear’s furniture factories. She writes about the marketing strategy that led North Carolina to become a national leader in furniture making:

…Cities such as New York and Chicago became national exhibition sites where manufacturers displayed their products and took orders. Furniture dealers and buyers visited these halls at least twice a year, viewing a variety of lines from across the country. North Carolina manufacturers brought the concept home to High Point and eventually created the largest marketing center for home furnishings in the world. On 20 June 1921 the Southern Furniture Exposition, Inc., opened a ten-story building in High Point, complete with 249,600 square feet of exhibition space. Over two weeks, 700 dealers viewed 149 exhibits, and sales came close to $2.25 million.

To continue reading and see the slideshow, you can visit the NCpedia website.

During the mid-1800s, Thomas Day was the most successful cabinet maker working  in North Carolina.  A significant figure in the history of woodworking, equally as important for his role in American history as an astoundingly successful free man of color in the Antebellum South, Day developed a truly original aesthetic and showed unmatched skill as a maker of cabinets, furniture, and other highly detailed works, the popularity of which elevated his status in white society on a scale unseen among other free blacks.  His signature style, full of flowing lines, spirals, and original motifs, shaped an entire era of American furniture making.

In honor of the publication of THOMAS DAY: MASTER CRAFTSMAN AND FREE MAN OF COLOR, the North Carolina Museum of History will open its exhibit “Beneath the Veneer: Thomas Day Cabinet Maker” on May 22nd, the day of the book’s release.  The following day, the Thomas Day House, located in historic Milton, NC will host a book signing event, where “visitors will also have a chance to see examples of Day’s fine craftsmanship at Union Tavern, Milton Presbyterian Church, and other locations.”

Authors Patricia Marshall, curator of decorative arts for the North Carolina Executive Mansion and the North Carolina Museum of History,  and  Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll, professor of interior architecture at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, have brought Day’s legacy to its rightful place in North Carolina and American history with their detailed and thoughtful approach to one of our state’s most valuable treasures.

In conjunction with its Thomas Day exhibit, the Museum of History will host a panel on turning points in North Carolina African American history.   The panel will feature UNC Press authors Tim Tyson and Blair LM Kelley.

-Rachel

Among those featured are potter and former owner of Jugtown Pottery, Nancy Sweezy, and potter Mark Hewitt. Sweezy and Hewitt are also coauthors of The Potter’s Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery. Mark Hewitt is owner of Mark Hewitt Pottery.

Also featured on the show is Vernon Owens, master potter and owner of Jugtown Pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina. Vernon, a sixth generation potter, has been making pots at Jugtown for over 50 years, having started making pots for sale at the age of ten. He owns Jugtown Pottery along with his wife, Pam Owens. Their son Travis, age 24, and daughter Bayle, age 19, both work at Jugtown and continue the family craft.

Don’t forget to tune in tonight! PBS-TV, 8-10pm.

-Rose Florence

Continuing along the North Carolina piedmont, Davidson County is worthy of a pitstop. Founded in 1822 and named for Revolutionary War General William Lee Davidson, Davidson County is home to many unique and historical sites.

North Carolina is well known for it’s barbecue, but none is quite like the kind you get in Lexington–defining its own category, “Lexington-style barbecue.” Home to many of the great barbecue restaurants –Stamey’s, Speedy’s, Lexington BBQ,  Troutman’s–Davidson County knows its ‘que. In fact, since 1984, Lexington has hosted the Lexington Barbecue Festival, one of the biggest barbecue celebrations in the state, which sees more than 100,000 visitors every year.

Thomasville, known to many as North Carolina’s “Chairtown,” is a national furniture-making center and comprises one of the major industries in Davidson County, accompanied by textiles and tobacco. The town, named for legislator John W. Thomas,  welcomed  its first chairmaker, David Westmoreland, when he moved his shop from Forsyth County in the mid-1850s. He began the first chair factory in 1879, soon followed by many others. The importance of the industry to Davidson County was symbolized by the construction of “The Big Chair” in 1922. Thirteen feet tall–the world’s largest–it was later replaced by an 18-foot-tall steel reproduction in 1949. The oversized chair in Thomasville, symbol of Davidson County’s world famous furniture industry.

Uwharrie National Forest is home to many incredible plants, birds, and hiking trails that are sure to thrill even the most intense nature junky. The 20.5-mile figure-eight Uwharrie Trail offers a variety of habitats from open fields to high rocky ridges of pine and hardwoods where Wild Turkey, raptors and songbirds might be spotted. Creeks offer additional habitats for woodland bird species.

Davidson County also offers Boone’s Cave Park , a 100-acre site that offers hiking trails through a rolling forest of mixed hardwoods. It is here that Daniel Boone is rumored to have hidden in order to escape Native Americans.

Now if you are in need of something sweet after a meal at Lexington Barbecue, Carrie Blair of Davidson County offers you a little banana pound cake to round off culinary sampling of Davidson County. “This was passed down to me from a girl I used to work with at Old Dominion Freight Line,” said Blair. “I’ve had this recipe for at least twenty years. I make it quite a bit, and everyone likes it.”

Here it is:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup shortening

2 3/4 cups sugar

5 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon banana extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, shortening, and sugar. Add the eggs and milk; mix well. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in thirds, beating well after each addition. Add the flavorings and bananas. Blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

-Rose

For more information on food, facts, history, architecture, and nature around North Carolina, be sure to check out:

Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue, by John Shelton Reed & Dale Volberg Reed

The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, by William S. Powell

The North Carolina Birding Trail: Piedmont Trail Guide

A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina by Catherine W. Bishir & Michael T. Southern

Sweet Carolina: Favorite Desserts and Candies from the Old North State, by Foy Allen Edelman

Anyway! The interview will charm your socks off. Roy talks about Obi-Wan Kenobi, violins vs. synthesizers, and being a locavore. He also suggests the five most important tools for beginner woodworkers.

The 28th season of “The Woodwright’s Shop” is underway, airing weekly on PBS stations across the country. At the PBS website you can search for local airtimes and watch archived episodes from previous seasons.

And remember, kids, “Just say no to power tools!”

(internet: good. power tools: bad.)

–ellen

The biggest annual trade show in the American book biz, BookExpo America was held in Los Angeles this year from May 29 to June 1. UNC Press had a double booth and featured several great books coming up on our Fall 2008 list. Pics of our booth and a peek at some forthcoming gems, after the jump….

UNC Press author Gary Gallagher was on hand this year for a traditional signing of his latest book, Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War.

At the booth, we had lots of attractions, including promotional giveaways: Barbecue aprons! A Weber grill! A toolbox designed and built by the master of traditional woodcraft himself, Roy Underhill! These freebies helped draw eyes and attention to Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue, by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed (with William McKinney), and The Woodwright’s Guide: Working Wood with Wedge and Edge, by Roy Underhill (and with illustrations by his daughter, Eleanor).

…Not to mention reading copies of

• The Complete Guide to Soccer Fitness and Injury Prevention,
• The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales, and
• The Origin of the Milky Way and Other Living Stories of the Cherokee.

A successful show all the way around, and the buzz is already starting for the fall’s upcoming books.

Check out these pics! (You’ll see our ever dapper sales director, Michael Donatelli, in a couple of them.)

]]> http://uncpressblog.com/2008/06/17/bea-report/feed/ 0