The historical society in Dayton has launched a monthly "Heirloom Market" series this summer, inviting local vendors to peddle wares and crafts handed down through the generations. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[people chatting]
At five o'clock on the last Thursday in June, people streamed down the sidewalks of Dayton to get to Rocktown History, a museum of the area’s history. That’s where artisans from around the valley had set up booths offering loose leaf tea blends, cast iron housewares, wooden cooking utensils, woodburned artwork, and rabbits processed for meat.
Lauren Zook and her husband Aaron, of Rawley Mountain Supply, sell refurbished outdoor gear.
LAUREN ZOOK: If you need hiking boots, or knives, or flashlights, or random outdoor trinkets, that's what you can find in our booth!
This was the first of a market series taking place the fourth Thursday of every month through September at Rocktown History, the Virginia Quilt Museum at Silver Lake Mill, and Fort Harrison. Andrea Early, the manager of Rocktown History, calls this the "Dayton historic triangle."
ANDREA EARLY: I just think this fits our mission as far as preserving the stories of Rockingham County and Harrisonburg.
Debbie Houston, of Staunton, found a treasure at a Fort Harrison plant vendor.
DEBBIE HOUSTON: I know it's purple and it's got little tiny flowers and bulbs.
Linda Edwards crochets stuffed animals and fidget toys, and writes books about the oral history and photos of "lost communities." She has two volumes out now, one on Mount Solon & Mossy Creek, and another on Sangerville & Stokesville. One story is about the namesake of Todd Lake – a mountaineer named James Todd.
LINDA EDWARDS: He was a hunter and knew the mountains like the back of his hand. …One day, he came home and Robert E. Lee wanted to talk to him. He wanted him to guide him through the mountains during Lee's West Virginia campaign. … When he came home, he found that – and these were his words – the Confederates hadn't been very nice to his daughters. So he kind of switched a little bit. He was still neutral, but leaned more toward the northern.
Her next edition will feature Briery Branch, Ottobine, and Spring Creek.
EDWARDS: If we don't write these things down, they'll be gone.
The next Heirloom Market will take place July 23 from 5 to 8 p.m.
