Wednesday, March 22, 2023
No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE
The Chimney Rock Chronicle
46 °f
Broadway
58 ° Thu
60 ° Fri
59 ° Sat
54 ° Sun
54 ° Mon
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Pickup Locations
  • Columns
    • All
    • Book Notes
    • Eating Well in the Real World
    • Fishing with Mike
    • From the Potting Shed
    • Fulks Run Follies
    • Gobbler Sports
    • Handy with Randy
    • Headlines from Plains Museum
    • Hiking With Ray
    • Local Business
    • Local Legends
    • Musings from the Woodpile
    • Personal & Professional Development
    • Randy's Ramblings
    • Reflections from a Fuller Life
    • Sarah's Recipes
    • The Gospel Vault
    • The View From Here
    • The Wandering Wilkins
    • When This You See
    Mattress Shopping

    Retta’s Column

    Hiking with Ray

    Hiking with Ray

    Rail hunting in the Tidal Marshes of Chincoteague, Virginia

    Rail hunting in the Tidal Marshes of Chincoteague, Virginia

    A rare photo of the old bridge at Cootes Store (photo courtesy of Jay Fulk)

    Fulks Run Follies

    Sarah’s Recipes

    Sarah’s Recipes

    Rounding the Bases

    Rounding the Bases

    Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

    Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

    Bass Fishing with Mike – December 2021

    Bass Fishing With Mike

    Photograph of Wes Dove

    Do I Feel Threatened?

    Handy With Randy

    Handy With Randy

    food truck

    Fat Boyz BBQ & More

    The Nelons

    The Nelons Part III

    Gail Godwin

    Classic Southern Novels

    Mary C. Fawley Fulk was about ten when she and her aunt showed hospitality to an enemy soldier.

    Our Family’s Stories

    baseball field

    2023 BHS Baseball and Softball Preview

    Trending Tags

    • Entertainment
      • All
      • Festivals
      • Kids Activites
      • Music
      • Off Broadway Players
      • Sports
      • Upcoming Events
      Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

      Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

      Rounding the Bases

      Rounding the Bases

      baseball field

      2023 BHS Baseball and Softball Preview

      Pedaling West

      Local Author to Speak at New Market Library

      Kansas

      Hunting for the Lesser Prairie Chicken in the Cimarron National Grassland

      Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

      Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

      Bass Fishing with Mike – December 2021

      Bass Fishing With Mike

      A Spinning Demonstration

      A Hidden Gem in Plain View

      Rounding the Bases

      Rounding the Bases

      • Off Broadway Players
    • History
      • All
      • Bev's Historic Notes
      Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

      Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

      The Chimney Rock VFW Celebrates 75 Years of Service

      The Chimney Rock VFW Celebrates 75 Years of Service

      HEADLINES From Plains District Memorial Museum

      Highlights from the Plains District Memorial Museum

      Bad Roads

      Revolutionary War Service

      Mattress Shopping

      Retta’s Column

      HEADLINES From Plains District Memorial Museum

      Headlines from PLAINS DISTRICT MEMORIAL MUSEUM

      The Miller Family of the Genoa Area

      The Miller Family of the Genoa Area

      The Lantz Family

      The Lantz Family

      Timberville Historic Notes

      Timberville Historic Notes

    • Our Sponsors
      • Advertising
    • Home
      • About Us
      • Pickup Locations
    • Columns
      • All
      • Book Notes
      • Eating Well in the Real World
      • Fishing with Mike
      • From the Potting Shed
      • Fulks Run Follies
      • Gobbler Sports
      • Handy with Randy
      • Headlines from Plains Museum
      • Hiking With Ray
      • Local Business
      • Local Legends
      • Musings from the Woodpile
      • Personal & Professional Development
      • Randy's Ramblings
      • Reflections from a Fuller Life
      • Sarah's Recipes
      • The Gospel Vault
      • The View From Here
      • The Wandering Wilkins
      • When This You See
      Mattress Shopping

      Retta’s Column

      Hiking with Ray

      Hiking with Ray

      Rail hunting in the Tidal Marshes of Chincoteague, Virginia

      Rail hunting in the Tidal Marshes of Chincoteague, Virginia

      A rare photo of the old bridge at Cootes Store (photo courtesy of Jay Fulk)

      Fulks Run Follies

      Sarah’s Recipes

      Sarah’s Recipes

      Rounding the Bases

      Rounding the Bases

      Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

      Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

      Bass Fishing with Mike – December 2021

      Bass Fishing With Mike

      Photograph of Wes Dove

      Do I Feel Threatened?

      Handy With Randy

      Handy With Randy

      food truck

      Fat Boyz BBQ & More

      The Nelons

      The Nelons Part III

      Gail Godwin

      Classic Southern Novels

      Mary C. Fawley Fulk was about ten when she and her aunt showed hospitality to an enemy soldier.

      Our Family’s Stories

      baseball field

      2023 BHS Baseball and Softball Preview

      Trending Tags

      • Entertainment
        • All
        • Festivals
        • Kids Activites
        • Music
        • Off Broadway Players
        • Sports
        • Upcoming Events
        Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

        Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

        Rounding the Bases

        Rounding the Bases

        baseball field

        2023 BHS Baseball and Softball Preview

        Pedaling West

        Local Author to Speak at New Market Library

        Kansas

        Hunting for the Lesser Prairie Chicken in the Cimarron National Grassland

        Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

        Spotlight on the Off Broadway Players

        Bass Fishing with Mike – December 2021

        Bass Fishing With Mike

        A Spinning Demonstration

        A Hidden Gem in Plain View

        Rounding the Bases

        Rounding the Bases

        • Off Broadway Players
      • History
        • All
        • Bev's Historic Notes
        Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

        Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

        The Chimney Rock VFW Celebrates 75 Years of Service

        The Chimney Rock VFW Celebrates 75 Years of Service

        HEADLINES From Plains District Memorial Museum

        Highlights from the Plains District Memorial Museum

        Bad Roads

        Revolutionary War Service

        Mattress Shopping

        Retta’s Column

        HEADLINES From Plains District Memorial Museum

        Headlines from PLAINS DISTRICT MEMORIAL MUSEUM

        The Miller Family of the Genoa Area

        The Miller Family of the Genoa Area

        The Lantz Family

        The Lantz Family

        Timberville Historic Notes

        Timberville Historic Notes

      • Our Sponsors
        • Advertising
      No Result
      View All Result
      The Chimney Rock Chronicle
      Subscribe
      Thank you to our Sponsors! Thank you to our Sponsors! Thank you to our Sponsors!
      Home Columns

      How I got involved with the Nantucket Basket

      John Coffman by John Coffman
      July 4, 2022
      in Columns, Lifestyle
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

      I was turning a piece of wood in my shop one day. I thought I heard a feeble knock on the door. Did I? I opened the door and there stood a stranger with two little pieces of wood in her hand. They looked like something she had picked up on the scrap woodpile. Maybe something that was made from a piece of pallet wood.

      And she said “could you make me some bases and lids for my baskets?” and I said, “well, I don’t see why not but, they might look a little different than those. I sand all the things that I make”. She laughed and said “well, OK.”

      That was the beginning of my association with Nantucket Baskets. I had never heard of one.

      Anyway, she loved what I had made for her.  She wanted more, all sizes, shapes, etc. About 3 or 4 weeks later, I was again turning wood in my shop when I heard 3 or 4 little knocks on my door.  Wow, I’m getting popular. I cut the lathe off and opened the door, and there again was a small lady holding her couple pieces of wood.

      She said “By any chance would you be John Coffman?”  I said, “Well, I’m one of them, could be, there are several hiding around this area”. She said, “I’ve been trying to track you down for weeks. Me and several others take a basket weaving class and our teacher showed us her basket lids and bases that she had gotten somewhere but she won’t tell us where she got them.  With small bits of information that we could get, we tracked the footprints up to this door.”  Now I understood what was happening. The game of keeping it all to ourselves.

      She and everybody in the class came to get bases, lids, and molds. “I was real busy” is an understatement.

      History

      As you know, there is an island off the coast of Massachusetts called Nantucket.  As the story goes, there were not enough lighthouses on the island in the 1800’s toward ships away from the rocky coast. They came up with the bright idea to moor ships at these places, to use as lighthouses

      Then the problem arose, they had to hire people to live on these ships to light the lanterns in the evening and cut them off in the morning.  In between morning and evenings, the people got bored, having nothing to do all day long.  They started weaving baskets and the baskets had a very distinct look. They evolved into the Nantucket Lightship Basket.

      Fine cane was used for the weave and reed for the rims and staves (ribs). These baskets were woven on a mold and used a thin board for the bottom.  Some had lids and some did not.  Before long I was designing all sorts of Nantucket baskets and selling weaving kits. Soon people were encouraging me to attend basket conventions.

      One year we borrowed my daughter, Joni and her husband Tony Biller’s camper and went to the big basket convention in Raleigh, N. C. At the last minute before the doors opened, I remembered something I had forgot in the camper and went out to get it. When I got back inside they had already opened the event doors to the vendors. What a sight that met my eyes! People were crowded around my booth holding armfuls of things they wanted to buy and clutching their money in the other hand.  People were so thick I could barely see my wife, Kay, let alone get behind the counter to help her.  That was chaos at it’s best. With me there, to help her we finally got the people waited on. I don’t know how the people knew what we were selling because everything was covered up as it was brought in the building.

      I was the only one selling Nantucket items of that quality.  The other vendors were selling items like the two women had that came to my shop door. Pine and unsanded.  Mine looked like fine furniture in very unusual wood.  We grossed over $2000.00 at that show, just selling weaving kits and molds. That was in the 90’s.  After that, I really had a lot of knocks at my shop door.

      I don’t weave baskets. I just make the wood parts.  These baskets shown here were woven by a professional basket weaver. I made her a deal…anything you want is free if you do all my weaving.

      John M. Coffman,
      Woodworker
      This is a 6 in. basket with a burl Oak lid and found knob. (Mountain Laurel root) and steam bent Oak handle. Pedestal base and turned buttons.
      This is a 6 in. pedestal Candy dish. Lid, knob, pedestal and base are wild cherry w/oak burl inlay enhanced with malachite stone inlayed in the cracks.
      A 5 in. basket weaving mold.
      Lid with a whaling scene. Cherry
      John Coffman

      John Coffman

      John is knowledgeable about history, hunting, fishing and other subjects.

      Next Post
      Welcome!

      Timberville Historical Notes

      Popular Articles

      • Shenandoah Rail Trail meeting. Broadway

        The Shenandoah Rail Trail

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Fat Boyz BBQ & More

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • The Old Inn At Mauzy

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Cullers Run School in Hardy County, West Virginia

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Sarah’s Recipes

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Do I Feel Threatened?

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Gone, But Not Forgotten

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Ruritan Club Update: Focusing on Our Furry Friends

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Handy With Randy

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • 2023 BHS Baseball and Softball Preview

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • About Us
      • Advertising
      • Contact
      • Pick Up Locations

      © 2021 The Chimney Rock Chronicle - Website & E-Commerce by Bare Web Design, Broadway Va.

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • Columns
      • Entertainment
        • Festivals
        • Kids Activites
        • Music
      • History
      • Sports
        • Thank you to our Sponsors!
        • Advertising

      © 2021 The Chimney Rock Chronicle - Website & E-Commerce by Bare Web Design, Broadway Va.