Apple Creek Trading - John Dean
Apple Creek Trading
John Dean
John, who lives in Valle Crucis, has been a full-time craftsman since 1977. He has been making traditional Appalachian berry baskets for the past twenty years. These handcrafted baskets date back to early Cherokee Indian traditions. They used poplar bark to make baby bassinets, siding for lodges and water buckets, as well as berry baskets. The Indians passed the basket art form to the early mountain settlers, who used them to collect wild berries in the woods.
A local man who is now in his late nineties taught John how to make berry baskets. In the spring or summer, a poplar tree is cut, and the bark is peeled in sections with an antique tool called a spud. Next, the basket is formed from a bark section and placed in the sun to dry. John then attaches a handle made of jackvine.
Today, the poplar berry basket with its vine handle gives the owner not only a treasure from the past, but also a unique accent piece.