: Heart of Country
Elizabeth and Richard Kramer were again the hosts to Heart of
Country Antiques Show at Gaylord Opryland USA Resort October
27-30. Now, two decades after starting the twice-annual event,
they have lost none of the enthusiasm for organizing more than
100 dealers who specialize in collecting and offering antiques
from America's early and pioneering times.
This fall there was a special exhibit on early sugar chests
curated by Robert Hicks and Benjamin Caldwell featuring more than
20 of this rare furniture form that was most popular in the
Southern Colonies in the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth
Centuries. The form was important in its day due largely to the
value and demand for the sugar itself in that it would be subject
to being purloined by unauthorized members of the household, i.e.
children, staff and vermin. The chests in their time became a
symbol of affluence and sophistication, a prominent display in
the house for those who could afford to own one and more to keep
a reserve of sugar on hand.
The Kramers have for many years been setting a special exhibit as
the focal point only to underscore their Americana theme to the
show. This coupled with the festive party atmosphere makes it an
event not to be missed. In fact for their preview party with a
$60 per person admission fee there were more than 700 people on
line a half hour before the opening. And they found Americana...
Ashley Dettor is a regular exhibitor at Heart of Country. She has
a shop in Verona, Va., and does various other shows in the
Northeast in summers for she has a second home in Maine. Her
collection at Opryland USA included some Adirondack furniture,
early painted furniture and accessories.
Country Meadows is the business of Gary and Pam Voyles, Alton,
Ill. They came with a booth filled with household accessories
including firkins, baskets, wooden bowls and trenchers, even some
vintage linens and early store signs.
Rose Adams Holbrook is from New Mexico and so is her collection.
This gives her booth a completely different look from the Eastern
dealers, with hot colors in a large collection of textile items.
Her quilts and coverlets were made in the late Nineteenth Century
with bright yellow and red colors and earth tone contrasts. She
displayed a braided rug in deep shades of red with a hot yellow
rocking chair on it.
Dennis Raleigh, Wiscasset, Me.
Americana and country may not have the same look
everywhere but they tend to have the same attitude. It is
about making things from the locally available materials that are
suited to the local environment - cotton quilts in the South,
woolen in Ohio, stick furniture from hickory in Tennessee and maple
boards in the chest made in New Hampshire.
Bill Kelly and Kelli Martin are residents of Greenville, Va., and
show the regional nature of country. He is a native of the
Northeast, living most recently in Limington, Maine, but she is a
Virginian. The display included Shenandoah Valley painted
furniture and some finished northern hardwood pieces including a
pewter cupboard and a lowboy.
Tennessee dealer Trace of Time Antiques offered a Tennessee-made
chest in mixed hardwoods and hardwood veneers, in Sheraton style
from the early Nineteenth Century for $2,850. Another
Tennesseean, Michael Hall, had a minimalist booth with about ten
pieces of early furniture and only a few accessories while
Georges Antiques brought a large collection of early lighting
mostly candle holders from his Atlanta home.
Roe House Antiques is the business of Illinoisans Dan and Kathy
Roe who mixed their booth with painted furniture from the early
1800s into the early1900s and they made wall hangings out of
early textiles, wash sticks and signs. Painted furniture from
Maine was the primary focus of Debraelizabeth Schaffer's display
but then she is from Wiscasset. She also offered an early
6-foot-long harvest table in pine, drop leaves in excellent
condition for $3,600.
Also a resident of Wiscasset, Dennis Raleigh has been doing Heart
for years and his inventory was mostly a New England look. Dennis
seems to focus his buying on folk art and wall hangings. Another
Wiscasset dealer at the show was Bob Snyder and Judy Wilson and
their cutest piece was a steam powered small pond boat.
Bud Weinert had a Pontiac car dealership sign on the wall but
then he is from that part of Michigan. Also from Michigan was
Douglas Wyant with a booth overflowing with early and old painted
items including a whirligig that was so big it was almost a
windmill.
David Drummand is a regular at this show but keeps people
guessing as to what he will be displaying. This makes his booth a
must-see at each Heart with this most recent event featuring
brightly colored textile accessories to mostly painted furniture
and even a pair of leather upholstered chairs.
Mother and daughter dealers Munday and Munday, from Illinois, are
collectors of American stoneware and pottery. Here their exhibit
included a large assortment of yellowware and cream ware.
Tappahannock, Va., dealer Brian Penniston had a Virginia spice
cabinet made of mahogany circa 1790 priced at $38,000. The piece
was only 2 feet tall with ten drawers and a front door inclosing
them; Hepplewhite design with French foot base.
Michael and Sally Wittemore, Washington, Ill.
Former residents of Connecticut and now from Washington Ill.,
Michael Wittemore and his wife Sally set a yellow painted step
cupboard in the center of their booth then filled it with a wide
variety of early household implements. There were some treen ware
pieces including mortar and pestle sets and drinking cups and
measures; some pantry boxes; stoneware and even some early glass.
Newville, Penn., is home for Terry and Brenda Daniel. It is about
30 miles west of Harrisburg and the shopping in their area
obviously is good for early American primitive and country
articles. In the front of their area was a large harvest or
winnowing table used to separate the grain from the shafts of
straw and grass. There were also several cupboards and a pie safe
along with a collection of early baskets.
This show had a little of everything for those who looked hard
enough.
Held twice each year the next will be February 10-13, returning
to the traditional Thursday preview opening and Sunday closing.
There is a package plan to the show and Opryland USA but check
with the Kramers for details at 314-862-1091 or visit for more
information.
