Journal 4: Wood at the Museum of Appalachia

On the field trip to the Museum of Appalachia, it was my mission to find how the Appalachian people used wood. Obviously, people back then knew how to work with wood and applied it to almost everything as it was a readily available resource and fairly easy to work with. Before arrival, I had decided to try and find the most interesting ways they used wood whether it was practical or not.

Appalachian Mouth Bow

The Mouth Bow is an instrument resembling qualities of the guitar and harp. The player would hold one end of the bow in their mouth and hold the other end in their hand. Using their bottom lip in combination with widening and closing their mouths and plucking the string, different pitches of sound start to resound.

Alex Stuwart, Lawrence Warwick, Eli Stooksbury, and Carlock Stooksbury are some of the very few "modern" mouth bow makers. Mouth bows are typically carved from red cedar wood and are strung with wire, most commonly taken from the door screens.   

Peach Seed Carving

  Homer Blevins of Oak Ridge has made use out of eating peaches by carving intricate images into the peach seeds. Peach seed carving isn't a craft in high demand or at all popular among the Appalachian people simply due to the amount of patience and craft it takes to poduce such an object. Never the less, peach seed carving is a prime example of how the Appalachian people use readily avaliable reasources to meet daily needs or to simply pass the time.  

Mouth Bow exhibit at the Museum of