There are some things American which are so strongly identified with place that we blurt the response when we hear the location. New Orleans jazz. Chicago deep dish. Alaskan wilderness. And, of course, Appalachian handcrafted furniture.

For three centuries, these ancient mountains have nurtured the rural woodworking skills brought here by Scots, Irish and English immigrants. For the past three decades, the ghosts of Gaelic muses have had a little help in their preservation efforts, in the personages of Drew & Louise Langsner.

Thirty years ago, the Langsners moved into a new home in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. It was a simple farm property - 100 acres of undulating grass and hardwoods - and its beauty took their breath away. They wanted to do some small scale farming, and Drew was about to begin an odyssey in traditional woodworking with hand tools.

In the summer of 1978, Country Workshops taught its first traditional woodworking courses - carving Swedish woodenware and log cabin construction. An old tobacco barn served as a very improvised workshop, and the log building course was the genesis of the Langsners' new log house.

Summer workshops have continued ever since. This year, the school offers a wonderful assortment of workshops - everything from rustic Windsor chairmaking to a ten-day craft tour in Japan! If you've never taken a woodworking workshop, and you have a hankerin' to learn how things used to be done before the advent of table saws, these courses are a true bargain. The very reasonable tuition includes all your materials, meals and lodging. Specialized tools are provided where needed. All you have to do is arrange to be there on the first day of class.

For a complete listing of this year's courses, click here or scroll down.

Not Your Average School Store...

Classes at Country Workshops fill up rapidly, in part because of the appealing curriculum, and also because of the excellent reputation the school has earned for hands-on instruction. But one of the nicest attributes of this school is their catalog of hand-forged, ready-to-use traditional hand tools - everything from drawknives to shaving mules. No, those aren't hairy horses: they're self-contained workstations which include a seat and a vise (click here for a photo).

To receive a free catalog of all the tools (including carving knives and gouges), books, videos and plans, plus complete descriptions of all their workshops and info on the instructors and accommodations, call Drew Langsner at 828-656-2280 (9-6 EST), or send him an e-mail. You also can visit the school online at Country Workshops, Inc.

This Year's Summer Workshops

For more details, call Drew Langsner at 828-656-2280 (9-6 EST), or send him an e-mail.