The Brasstown Carvers are alive and well today, passed on from generation to generation. Mr. Scroggs put nails in the bench to deter them. They merely carved around the nails. Mrs. Campbell saw the potential in these men (and later some women, who took this up) and provided them with wood and direction.
One craft that has remained a stable trade through time is carving. Folklore has it that Mrs. Campbell noticed a group of men “idly whittling” with their pocket knives on the porch of Mr. Scroggs’ store. When no wood existed, they would carve into the bench they sat on. In an effort to save his bench from the carvers, In 1925 the Folk School began its work of mostly hands-on education. she returned, it was to a meeting of 200 people at a local church. The people of Cherokee and Clay counties promised labor and building materials, while the Scroggs family gave land.
Woodcarving remains one of the Folk School’s enduring traditions.
A SCHOOL FOR LIFE
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