A Warm Heritage

A Warm Heritage. . In 1890, the Goodwin family opened the Cedar Bluff Woolen Mills. The power of the Clinch River's waters was harnessed to operate the carding machines that brushed and cleaned the wool, the spinning machines that spun the wool into yarn, and the looms that turned the yarn into multicolored blankets and coverlets. Soon the process incorporated steam, and later electricity, to run the machines and increase production. , In the early days, horse or ox-drawn wagons gathered wool from surrounding farms in Tazewell County. Farmers were sometimes paid cash for their wool, but often finished blankets were traded for raw wool on a “one-half for the other” basis, meaning that two new blankets were exchanged for twenty-five pounds of “clear grease wool” (enough for weaving four blankets). , In 1908, the Goodwins began producing “seamless” bed coverlets, designed without the central pleat that was common to earlier bedcoverings. Specializing in seven heritage patterns, the mill gradually gained a national reputation for quality craftsmanship and grew to employ dozens of local residents. By the 1940s, over 12,000 coverlets were produced annually and the mill's blankets and coverlets were sold in retail shops and by mail order. , The mill's marketing was carefully crafted, emphasizing the blankets' traditional patterns and Appalachian origins. During the Christmas buying season, women were even sent to department stores in New York and other large cities, where they would weave blankets by hand in elaborate window displays. This reinforced a quaint image of Appalachian women weaving the blankets on looms in their mountain homes, rather than on the large machine-operated looms in the mill! , The rapid pace of production often required the mill's owners and employees to work alongside one another, doing long hours of exhausting work. It was said that townspeople could tell which color dye was being used at the mill by the color of the Clinch River.