THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511010159
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER WAVERLY
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
A FOLK ART museum, wood products museum, country store, art studio, herb garden, an amphitheater.
Total cost: $40 - for a sundial. Otherwise, the Miles B. Carpenter Museum Complex has depended on goodwill and good workers.
``Labor, materials, display items and plants have all been donated,'' said Shirley Yancey, president of the Board of Trustees.
The museum has no admission fee, Yancey said, ``but we do accept donations.''
The complex is a small, but mighty, museum offering lots of the unusual. The focal point is the former home of Miles Burkholder Carpenter, a nationally recognized wood carver, who died in 1985 at 96.
A year later, in accordance with his wishes, his house became a museum.
Museums and private collections across the country house many of the primitive folk art pieces Carpenter began creating in 1940.
Among Carpenter carvings in the museum are the 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie; three children - a black, white and native American - sharing a watermelon; a massive mother pig and her hungry piglets.
Also on display are the hammers, hatchets, saws and so on used by Carpenter, who also was a fine storyteller/singer whose stories and songs were as offbeat as his wooden creations.
You can hear a few at the museum. Topics include roosters laying eggs, potato growing in the Old Dominion, the prettiness of Virginia girls and the far-fetched tale of the scarcity of whiskey in the state.
The Peanut Museum is part of the complex. According to a state highway marker, the first commercial crop of peanuts was grown in the area around 1842.
On display is antique farm machinery and equipment, pictures of early planting and harvesting techniques, and a plaque denoting 1880 as the opening date of the Old Dominion Peanut Co., the first peanut factory in the U.S.
Everything ``Carpenter'' is utilized. The garage that once housed his 1951 Chevy is now an art studio, and his son's playhouse is ``The Country Store.''
The artist's backyard is a nature trail and 1,000-seat amphitheater, and an old building behind his home is a wood products museum representing Sussex County's wood industries.
``We had about 6,000 visitors last year,'' Yancey said. She expects a large number of visitors Saturday for the fourth annual Peanut Harvest Time Festival.
``Miles wanted his property to be used in a manner people would enjoy,'' Yancey said. ``We're historical, cultural, educational.'' And fun.
Among Saturday's activities:
Antique peanut harvester demonstration, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; at 11:15 a.m., peanut butter sculpturing.
11:30 a.m., herbalist Marge Solenberger of Richmond, discussing uses of herbs.
There will be games for adults and children, and peanut butter bird feeders will be made. There will be gifts and refreshments.
Country store items, reminiscent of those available many years ago, will be sold, and there will be entertainment including Cut-N-Up, a country band plus line dancing and gospel music. A special guest is Bob Bauman, the burgermeister at Oktoberfest in Busch Gardens, who will sing in German and English. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
``Labor, materials, display items and plants have all been
donated,'' says Shirley Yancey, board president of the Miles B.
Carpenter Museum.
AT A GLANCE
What: Peanut Harvest Time Festival.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Miles B. Carpenter Museum Complex, Route 460 West,
Waverly.
Details: There is no admittance charge. For more information,
call 834-2769 or 834-2151.
by CNB