Spruce Forest
Artisan village nurtures Appalachian crafts, traditions
GRANTSVILLE, Md. — A little covered bridge used to greet guests at the entrance to Spruce Forest Artisan Village in Grantsville, Md., just across the border from Pennsylvania. It’s gone.
Last April, at the start of the pandemic, a freak storm with winds nearing 100 miles an hour destroyed the bridge along with several historic log cabins that make up the artisan village founded by Alta Schrock, the first Mennonite woman to earn a doctorate and a champion of the Appalachian people.
Many massive pine trees were also felled by the winds or damaged enough that they had to come down, leaving the charming little village of cabins looking a bit naked.
“The reason it’s called Spruce Forest was because there were those huge, giant spruce trees when Alta purchased the land,” explained board president Kathryn Delaney. “We are replanting the trees. We are starting with 25 10-foot trees.”
Originally established in Pennsylvania, the village was created to preserve the heritage, crafts and even homes of the Appalachian people. The entire project was moved to the old Dixie Tavern, a stop on the National Pike originally called the Little Crossings Inn.
“I think it is the oldest tavern stop still in use,” said Delaney.
Purchased by Schrock in 1959, the tavern was renamed the Penn Alps restaurant and featured authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. In 1967, Schrock opened Spruce Forest Artisan Village (www.spruceforest.org) to showcase local artisans and their handiwork.
“We have six full-time craftsmen, and this year 40 part-time summer artists,” Delaney said.
Potter Lynn Lais has been demonstrating and selling his wares for three decades at Spruce Forest. Gene Gillespie is the resident woodturner, Mike Edelman and Doug Salmon work in metal, Ann Jones is the weaver, and Gary Yoder is an award-winning bird carver.
It was a vision that brought Schrock, a professor of botany in Indiana, back to western
Maryland.
“She had a vision — of course she was very religious — that she needed to go back home and find a way for the people in the Appalachian Mountains in both Pennsylvania and Maryland to sell their arts and crafts as a way to pull them out of poverty,” Delaney said. “She quit midyear and came back.”
Schrock started the first kindergarten in the area, the Casselmead House, and the Casselman Chronicle, a magazine still publishing today. They are just a few of nearly a dozen organizations she began, but it’s Spruce Village that has captured the imagination of visitors.
One of the unique characteristics of Schrock’s artisan community is the rescued log cabins and other buildings.
“The cabin I’m in was from Grantsville and is actually a two-story cabin,” said Lais, the potter. “As the story goes, the day they were going to tear it down, she rescued it, and they brought it here in 1964 and reconstructed it.
“One of the cabins here predates the Revolutionary War, one is from the Revolutionary War era and the others are circa 1830s.”
The cabins were rebuilt in a forest along the Casselman River and placed next to an arched stone bridge that was finished in 1817 as part of the National Road, U.S. Route 40. Today, the Casselman River Bridge is for pedestrians only, and it is on the National
Register of Historic Places. The 2020 storm had no impact on the bridge, but it did damage Schrock’s tiny study cabin.
One of 10 children, Schrock grew up in a poor farm family near Spruce Village.
“The family recognized when she was very little that she was not a regular child — She was brilliant,” Delaney said. “She memorized everything, so they built her a little cabin for her to study.”
The cabin currently sits in the shadow of the Casselman River Bridge behind the potter’s studio, waiting for restoration.
“The Amish are confident they can repair it,” noted Delaney. “I hope they can.”
Past visitors to Spruce Forest will notice it looks a little different than they remember. However, more than half a century after it was founded, this charming artisan village less than two hours from Pittsburgh continues to delight, educate and inspire visitors.
“We are hoping to get the covered bridge put back at the entrance this fall,” said Delaney.