Folk Art Museum, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Genealogy


Introduction Exhibits Genealogy Bookstore Contact Information Calendar of Events Historical Society Special Projects		Metals Metal implements have been essential to Shenandoah Valley residents from the time of early settlement. Items such as kitchen utensils were made locally by blacksmiths who added their own decorative features to common items such as forks, spatulas and hinges. In the Mid Nineteenth Century Trivet from Rockingham County shown here, you can see the pattern of a heart, a well-known decorative pattern in folk art.

		Gunsmiths, too, embellished the beautiful woods of their stocks with finely tooled patchboxes and inlays. The art on the Mid Nineteenth Century Kentucky Rifle pictured here is the work of Alexander McGilvray, a Rockingham County, Virginia gunsmith. Also featured in the permanent exhibit are a pair of hand-wrought Andirons from the early 20th Century forged by Page County blacksmith, H. L. Kibler, and a Stoveplate plate forged by the Massey (Mossy) Creek Furnace of Augusta County in 1775. As industrial production of metal items increased in the 19th century, however, items from the blacksmith and gunsmith became less common. Some modern hand-wrought items continue to reflect folk designs. When you visit the Shenandoah Valley Folk Art and Heritage Center, you can see some of these modern pieces such as the hand-wrought black snake made by Rockingham County resident, Buck Smith in 1996.

Metals