The colorful history of Crossnore Weavers threads back to 1923, when Dr. Mary Martin Sloop — founder, with her husband Dr. Eustace Sloop, of The Crossnore School — set up two looms with the intention of teaching and preserving the Appalachian art of hand weaving. Initially focused on students, the weaving project was soon implemented as a way for local women, especially young mothers, to make and sell goods. A separate weaving room was built of log in 1929 to accommodate more looms and weavers, but in 1935 it burnt to the ground.
Lisa Banner, the current manager of the Weaving Room, picks up the story. “In 1936, with the help of the Crossnore children and community, they constructed a building with rock pulled from the river on the property. It’s a rock building, and The Rock House is what we call it. We’ve been there ever since.”
To be clear, Banner, who started in the weaving room as a volunteer, has been there 25 years. But more than 50 women from the area — and a couple of men — have sat at the looms throughout a century of weaving. Over time, more looms have been set up — there are now over 40 — and each is specific to a particular finished good.
Among the woven items for sale online and in the Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery in the same building are home goods like napkins, placemats, and throws; and wearables including scarves, ponchos, and wraps. Yarns are sourced primarily from regional shops, and the hand crafts display multiple colors and traditional patterns such as Lee’s Surrender, Martha Washington’s Choice, and mountain tartans. The enormously popular, 100% cotton Bronson Lace baby blanket is made in pastel green, yellow, blue or pink, and white.
Weaving Room Manager Lisa Banner stands in front of one of Crossnore’s iconic buildings built of local river rock. Photo by Colby Rabon
“That baby blanket is my go-to baby gift, and the gallery is just steps from my office,” says Caroline Hart, Chief External Relations Officer and Deputy Director of Crossnore Communities for Children. The umbrella agency was established in June 2021 following the merger of The Crossnore School and The Children’s Home, the latter founded in 1909 in Winston-Salem. The Avery Campus in Crossnore is the smaller of the two properties at 85 acres; it holds cottages for youth in the residential foster program and Williams Academy, a K-12 public charter school enrolling all the residential children and students from the community. The centrally located Rock House, also known as the Homespun House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Even more, according to Hart, it is a peaceful place that draws in campus residents, whether to learn to weave, work in the finishing room, or just find the needed sanctuary that is part of the organization’s mission statement. “The women there are like a family — they’ve been together a long time,” she explains. “It’s so important for a child in foster care to see and develop healthy relationships, and the weaving room is a safe place for those.”
It’s also a source of funding for Crossnore, adds Hart. “Proceeds from the sale of woven goods go right back into Crossnore’s operations and [are] used for things like the spiritual-life program, overnight camps, and beach trips,” she explains.
Banner says the weaving room and Crossnore walk hand in hand. “Weaving has always been a very therapeutic, healing craft, so it makes sense for us to be in a place devoted to healing.”
The Crossnore Weaving Studio and Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery are open every day but Sunday at 205 Johnson Lane in Crossnore, Avery County. Woven goods can also be purchased at the facility’s online store. Three times a year, the Crossnore Weavers hold a week-long public weaving class; the final session of the year is November 6-10. For more information, contact Lisa Banner.