Bed Full of Bonnets
Laura Cassell
by Penelope Moseley
The wind was howling, furiously, on a cold day in March when a petite, frail looking women came scurrying round her house to let me know I was knocking at the wrong door.
When this writer sat down with Mrs. Cassell to hear about her art forms, I asked where she would like for me to sit. She answered, “Anywhere.” Thinking she might want to claim a very comfortable looking rocker, I said, “But where do you usually sit?” Her answer to that question set the stage for the summary of her life, “Well, I’m usually upstairs settin’ at my sewing machine.”
Laura Cassell, who celebrated her 94th birthday this past January (2014), has worked tirelessly this brutal winter to replenish her inventory at Mayetta’s Market, an auxiliary body of the Hale-Wilkinson-Carter Home Foundation.
Mrs. Cassell is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. She learned to sew in a Home Economics class in school. In her opinion, she learned more from her aunt, Flora Gardner, when she lived with Flora for four years. Laura says, “You learn by doing. You make one mistake and you don’t do it again.”
Mrs. Cassell, born and raised on route 221 in Carroll County is the oldest of five children. She is a woman who has never been in a hospital and whose no-fear attitude started early in life. When she was a young teenager, her brother needed a tonsillectomy, but didn’t want to go alone. She was not sick, but volunteered to go with him. When they arrived at Dr. Cox’s office, he announced that he would do two for the price of one – $25. They both went home to heal that day.
In a time this country was suffering from the effects of a depression, Laura married Harvey Wayne Gardner and they moved into a one-room house, with a loft for the bed, in Floyd County. Someone gave them a chicken, another friend gave them a cow and another a pig. “I thought I was in heaven,” says Mrs. Cassell. They set up housekeeping and began her self-sufficient life style, farming and raising a family.
After Mr. Gardner returned home from WWII, he bought a sawmill and milled the lumber for the home that sits on land bought from her father, that Mrs. Cassell lives in today.
She is very gratified with the solid oak floors that stood strong against four children, Elizabeth Huff of Hillsville, Harvey Ray Gardner of Martinsville, David Gardner of Charlotte, NC and John Wayne Gardner, deceased. Today 12 grandchildren test the house, especially in their special playroom filled with Cabbage Patch dolls and an assortment of other interesting things to keep a child at play.
A creative and frugal woman, Laura used her skills to make ends meet by repurposing used garments and feed sacks into clothes for the family. She asserted, “Even the teachers wore feed-sack dresses in those days. “ After working at the school cafeteria, Mrs. Cassell, at the age of 45, took a job at Sprague Electric in Hillsville and retired there after 20 years of service.
Today she does alterations for friends, quilts, pieces quilt tops, decorates cakes, makes grape vine wreaths from her own grape vines, and is renowned for her cooking abilities.
She makes the cookies for her homemade banana pudding! She wouldn’t think of using store-bought vanilla wafers.
The craft that keeps her occupied in the long winter months, these days, is sewing; sun bonnets, aprons, casserole totes, tote bags, baskets or anything else she dreams up. This winter alone, she fashioned more than 30 eighteenth century style “Country Wives” bonnets, commonly worn by our British, French and North American working, middle-class women. She makes them from 100% cotton in small, middle and large sizes, as well as doll-size. She began making the bonnets when friends wanted them for local events. She didn’t have a pattern, but remembered seeing women wearing them in her younger days and came up with her own pattern.
When she started making the bonnets, Laura gave them away, but explained that so many people wanted them and materials got costly, so she had to start charging. In addition to selling her craft items at Mayetta’s Market, Laura dons her bonnet and apron with a period dress to demonstrate butter making (churning) and to sell her work at Shockley Old Timey Days, in Hillsville each September.
She is an experienced butter maker. In her farming days, she would get up at 4:00am to milk the cows. She made butter and cheese for the family and sold milk to various customers. A beautiful Chippendale style secretary desk sits opposite a cherry corner cupboard in her living room. The cherry cupboard was made from a tree, milled by Mr. Gardner, that went down in her yard. The Chippendale, that houses a set of World Book Encyclopedias, was proudly purchased from her milk money.
She doesn’t have time to quilt for people anymore but her quilting frame hangs from the ceiling of her sewing room, ready to hoist down and quilt for her family. She has given a Double Wedding Ring quilt to each of her 12 grandchildren and 3 children.
In addition to her craftwork, Mrs. Cassell is active at Fairview Presbyterian Church and with the seniors who meet each second Thursday at Sylvatus Ruritan Club. She also volunteers to sell hot dogs for the Hale Wilkinson Carter Home Foundation during Hillsville’s Cruise Ins.
Her numerous perennial flowerbeds are yawning the beginning of spring. In her words, “I like to work outside too much in the summertime to do any sewing. I don’t know how much longer I can do it, but I’ll keep at it as long as I can.”
To see Mrs. Cassell’s work and the art and crafts of many other local arts, visit Mayetta’s Market, an auxiliary of the Hale-Wilkinson-Carter Home Foundation. It is operated by volunteers for the benefit of the Home, to provide income in support of local and regional artisans and upkeep and maintenance for the Home.
Writers, musicians, artists and crafts people are invited to apply to participate through the jury process.
The Hale-Wilkinson-Carter Home Foundation preserves “The Home”, a historical museum, and informs the general public about the cultural heritage of southwest Virginia by promoting artistic, educational and intellectual events. Hours to tour the home vary, but Mayetta’s Market Gift Shop located on the first floor is open 11:00-4:00 Thursdays and Fridays and 11:00-2:00 on Saturdays, March through December. For more information on the Carter Home you may call (276) 728-5600 or visit the website at www.halewilkinsoncarterhome.org.
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