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PENLAND SCHOOL OF CRAFTS • POST OFFICE BOX 37 • PENLAND
NORTH CAROLINA • 28765-0037
FALL 1997
Restore, Refinish, Reshingle
Saving What We Love
“Our goal is not a
modern campus,
what we want to
do is preserve these
old buildings while
wejix the leaks,
r^inish theJloors
and make sure
everyone can get a
good shower at the
end oja long day”
“The third floor dormitory is very close to my heart, as I
was one of the occupants of that big room in its earliest
years. I recall good friends made among the numerous
roommates; and I remember so happily the clear, cool night
air drifting through the open windows and being lulled to
sleep by a large chorus of whippoorwills.” This note from
Frances Cargill (a niece of Penland founder Miss Lucy
Morgan) accompanied her check for the purchase of a new
window for the third floor of the Craft House.
In making this donation, Frances was joining a long tra
dition of direct support for the wonderful old buildings that
house Penland students and instructors-buildings which are
a part of the tapestry we refer to as “the Penland experi
ence.” In fact, the construction of the Craft House and many
other Penland buildings was a
direct result of people wishing
to contribute personally to a
place where so many lives had
changed.
In 1934, the year the Craft
House was proposed, all of
the students who came to
Penland and many of the
school’s neighbors each
pledged $2.50, enough to buy
one log delivered to the site.
“Some donated more than
one, and members of the
community donated a number of poplar trees as well,”
wrote long-time Penland employee Kat Conley in her
description of the project. “Two students donated a fire
place and chimney; another, the front door and entrance
and yet another wired the building free of charge. The plans
were developed through the winter of 1935 and by May the
foundation had been laid and over one hundred fine
poplar logs were at the building site.” The basic
structure was completed during a two-day neigh
borhood log raising.
Building the Craft House continued for many
years and when it was finally complete. Miss Lucy
found that she felt sorry for future students who
wouldn’t be able to participate in its construction.
“Every person who had given a log, a window, a
room, or even a batch of shingles had become an
integral part of the school, had felt himself actually
built into its physical plant,” she wrote.
It may have been a while since Penland’s neigh
bors got together for a log-raising, but the special
feeling that people have for the buildings-especially
the housing—continues to this day. Penland housing
is spare at best; our publications often refer to the
accommodations as “rustic.” But the rooms and
hallways and dormitories have an old-fashioned
charm and eccentricity which reminds people
unmistakably of where they are.
Interim Director Donna Jean Dreyer feels that this quali
ty is an important part of what the school means to people.
“Coming to Penland lifts people out of where they are,” she
says, “It gives them an experience that is completely differ
ent from the rest of their lives. Many things contribute to
that experience: the intense work in the studios is foremost,
but it’s also the beauty of the surroundings, the lack of
phones and televisions, the carefully pre
pared food, and it’s the feel of the hous
ing—the warm tones of the paneling, the
curtains flapping in the breeze, the early
morning walks from Horner—all of this
plays a part.”
This connection is evident in the way
Penland’s temporary residents personal
ize their modest spaces. A windowsill at
Radcliffe holds a display of tiny glass
sculptures; the shelves in a Craft House
room contain a careful arrangement of
pictures, books, and pottery; the bed in a
third-floor alcove at the Pines is covered
with a handmade quilt.
A CHALLENGING RESOURCE
AN INFARE ON PENLAND MOUNTAIN TOP
LOG RAISING
for the
Edward F. WocA Craft House
May 3td & 4th. 193 5
These same buildings, however, are part
of the greatest challenge facing Penland:
caring for an aging, rural facility. Considerable attention has
gone into studio improvement and expansion in the past
decade. This effort will continue, but many of the other
buildings are in need of attention, and some will require
major rehabilitation.
A recent restoration survey for the Craft House
includes items such as replacing deteriorated logs, redoing
rock chinking (using the original rock), restoring or replac
WE'D BE MIGHTY PROUD TO HAVE YOU COME
A secondJlooT room at the Craft House.
ing windows, and replacing the porch decking. Morgan
Hall, the seasonal hqme of Penland’s Core students, needs a
quarter of its shake siding replaced, new gutters, a new
porch, and weatherization.
On a more mundane and immediate level, many of the
bathrooms need an overhaul, worn-out furniture and mat
tresses need replacement, roofs need reshingling, and doors
need weatherstripping. With stu
dents, instructors. Residents,
and staff housed in twenty sepa
rate structures, even these kind
of routine upgrades can be a big
job.
None of this work is particu
larly glamorous nor will it add
new stops to the Penland tour,
but it is essential if the school is
to provide basic comfort and
preserve its familiar surround
ings. And it must be done with
out changing the character of the
school. For example, the win
dows that Frances Cargill and
other friends bought for the
Craft House have insulated glass
and built-in weatherstripping,
but they match the size and look
of the windows they replaced. And each one will have a
copper name plate, similar to the plaques that Miss Lucy
put all over the building to acknowledge the many hands
that built and furnished it.
“Our goal is not a modern campus,” said Donna Jean,
“what we want to do is preserve these old buildings while
we fix the leaks, refinish the floors, and make sure that
everyone can get a good shower at the end of a long
day.”
The major restoration projects will be incorporated
into long-range planning for the facility and the school
is seeking special funding to support this work. The
more immediate improvemqpts are part of the week-to-
week planning by the maintenance and housekeeping
staff. Individual donations along with in-kind contril '.1-
tions of materials and fixtures still play an import, it
part in this less-visible but always necessary attention o
the housing.
“A lot of the history of this school could be t d
through the old buildings which survive and are still m
use,” says Donna Jean. “We need to take care of them >0
that future generations will continue to be touched by
their warmth and history.”*..^
Lexicographer’s note: Infare is a colloquial term meaning “a
5. feast or entertainment given on entering a new house.”These
Q were often held in honor of a newly married couple and in
J some regions it was traditional to bake an “iifare cake” which
was broken over the bride’s head.