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ROCKFORD — History was alive and thriving Saturday in the Rockford community, just across the river in Surry County, during the 10th annual Rediscover Rockford Festival. Organizers said they hoped to grown the event, formerly known as Remember Rockford, from encouraging people to return to their home community to bringing in new visitors to the area.
“I’m just tickled to death at how many folks have come,” said Hannah Holyfield, president of the Rockford Preservation Society. “It’s going really really well.”
The sounds of a blacksmith’s hammer could be hear ringing, alongside old-time music being played by area musicians.
Joe Allen, was busy transforming a piece of iron into a snake, wielding his blacksmith’s hammer.
“You put it in the fire and heat it up and bring it out of the fire at about 1800 degrees and go to forging,” he explained of the process. As he pounded away at the super-heated metal he said it was more about stamina rather than muscle.
Also practicing his craft was Steve Golden who was busy weaving the seat bottom of a child’s chair using corn husks.
“This is what the original chair had, you see corn husk seats in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia,” Golden explained. The woven seat bottoms made from corn husks were common in the mid 19th century up until the 1940s, Golden said.
Golden learned the craft from David Russel of Georgia who had learned it from a 95-year blind woman from South Carolina.
“He told me she would hold his hands while he was weaving the corn husks and she would let him know if he was doing it the right way,” he said.
Golden changed up his technique after unweaving a damaged chair and seeing how that one had been made. He also makes wooden furniture as well and had on display a chair style which he believed to be local to Surry County as he had only ever seen the style there, including one example of the chair in a photo of Eng and Chang Bunker’s children’s nursemaid.
Professionals weren’t the only ones demonstrating historic crafting methods at Saturday’s event, James and Madeline Caudill, members of the Junior Historians Club were also demonstrating some unique crafting methods of the past.
Madeline was practicing creating fabric on a small loom while James worked with a drop spindle spinning yarn.
“We’re just bringing back some old crafts, and just showing people even though they didn’t have telephones or technology they still had fun,” said Emily Morgan, advisor for the Junior Historians which meets weekly at the Mount Airy Regional History Museum.
Morgan said the club is open to children from third grade through 12th grade
“We get to do projects, we do community outreach and learn a little bit about our history here in Surry County and beyond,” she said. The group also works on projects which are entered in competitions at the NC History Museum.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-258-4035 or follow her on Twitter @news_shewrote.
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