THE PLACE
LONE ROCK FARM
Lone Rock Farm - located in the town of Marshfield - was built in the early 1800's and had been a working farm for over 200 years. In the 1970's it was a prosperous dairy farm of 660 acres owed by Virginia Stranahan and Dale Linder and is now preserved as a town forest by the Vermont Land Trust. It has been the home of Kate Smith since 1989 and Eaton Hill Textile Works since 1992. It is no longer a working farm and part of the barn has been converted to the weaving studio but there are animals who are raised there every summer and large gardens surrounding the house. The students who come to Weaver's Croft all live together in the main farmhouse where they cook and share meals, work in the gardens and enjoy the wonders of the town forest.
OUR RESOURCES
STUDIO & EQUIPMENT
The studio at the Weaver's Croft houses over 8 working 18th & 19th c. handlooms along with all of the warping, loom dressing and related textile tools. We also have 2 Crompton & Knowles Dobby looms and a George Wood 8 leaved Jack Loom. There is a large array of flax processing equipment, small flax wheels, great wheels and a three season dye studio.
LIBRARY & TEXTILE COLLECTION
Along with the library of Kate Smith and Eaton Hill Textile Works, Weaver's Croft was lately gifted the incredible textile collection of Jacques Tremblay and Richard McGovern. This collection includes, coverlets, whole cloth quilts, linens and wool blanketing. It is available for study upon request and most of it is on the online Omeka database:
WHO WE ARE
Kate Smith
Kate Smith came to study with Norman Kennedy in 1979 and has devoted her whole working life to the study and execution of historic textiles. Her foray into textile research started with a desire to reproduce embossed fabrics from the 18th century. After 10 years of trial and error experimentation, Eaton Hill Textile Works now is one of the only hand producers of this type of fabric in the US.
Along with Kate, many of her former students have vast knowledge and experience to share and are working on research projects of their own.
And last but not least, is Norman Kennedy who is a veritable goldmine of stories, photographs and hands on experience.
Guest Instructors
Cick on the photo to see guest instructor information for our currently scheduled classes.