Broom-making: Preserving the Fine Art of the Old Ways

A recent class offered through the New River Wildlife and Conservation Club in Grayson is helping keep the art of Appalachian broom-making alive. Area residents joined John Alexander on a Saturday morning to learn how to work with broomcorn, bundle it just right, and weave it around broom handles in the same fashion that our ancestors did.

Alexander says he learned broom-making skills after completing military service and enrolling in college at Berea College in Kentucky. Berea's curriculum includes opportunities to learn old country traditions and Alexander found himself enjoying the craft of making brooms. Along with his career as a school principal and educator, broom-making became a lifelong skill that he shares with Southwest Virginia today.

Taking a class with Alexander becomes more than learning a skill because participants also enjoy hearing his stories describing his years growing up in Rockbridge County Virginia, heading off to join the Navy and going to college, and then coming back home to his roots.

The story of broom-making, itself, may seem uninteresting at first. But getting into the deeper history of this Appalachian craft is remarkable. Learning this skill connects students with traditions coming from Africa, Ireland, and Scotland.

Broomcorn seeds arrived in the colonies with slave ships and took root on plantations and farms where folks knew its value. The hardy material harvested from broomcorn is ideal for weaving brooms, baskets, and mats. Even founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson exchanged letters over their appreciation for broomcorn seeds.

Broom-making is an art form unto itself. Alexander describes how broom-makers have choices in the colors of binding fiber and the weave pattern. Historically, binding fiber was a waxed linen but today, we are using nylon cord. As we learn how to handle the broomcorn and binding fiber, Alexander describes how every choice in making a broom can reveal a broom-maker's signature style or can be crafted to have meaning. Cultures who make brooms have a long history that attaches symbolism and religious attributes to the humble broom.

Working with the broomcorn and bending it beneath the nylon cord, Alexander points to ways that makers added their own details to the weave patterns. He shows students how to use something he calls a "broom making machine"; the thing that manages the yardage of cord needed to weave broomcorn. He holds up a square dowel and says, "This is your broom making machine." And we laugh because, by machine standards, this is truly rudimentary equipment!

One challenging aspect of broom making is learning to tie complex knots. Okay... they're not complex. We have to learn how to tie slip knots. For Alexander, who served in the US Navy, tying knots was a cinch. But for some of us (me) knot-tying was... well... let's just say it's probably good I didn't join the Navy.

Knot tying aside, it was fun listening to Alexander talk about the old stories surrounding broom superstitions from the region. Of the many anecdotes shared during the class, it was interesting to learn that in the olden days when a family moved from one house to another, it was important to leave your broom behind with the old house. The belief held that bringing the old broom - a tool that cleans out the dirt - to a new place would also bring your troubles along with you. So it was important to leave behind the broom and make a new one for the next house.

When we were done with our brooms, we also made small vegetable scrubbing brushes using the dried broomcorn tassels. These vegetable brushes have two ends: one end for scrubbing potatoes or carrots and another for brushing silk off sweetcorn.

I was suspicious that this scrub brush would be effective. I thought it looked more like a decorative work of art that should hang on the wall. But when I got home and used it on my carrots, I was delighted with the results. It really worked. And even after several days of use, this little kitchen miracle still looks as good as new!

Alexander's classes are available for all age groups and it's a great opportunity to make something useful and decorative for the house. You'll also be impressed with how these hand-made humble household tools stack up against the store-bought competition. It makes one wonder how many more things can we make ourselves at home instead of buying them in a store.

If you're interested in signing up for John Alexander's classes, subscribe to The Neighborly - it's FREE - and we'll keep you posted on his class schedule. We'll also send you an email with more cool stories and happenings around Grayson, Carroll, and Galax!

And one more thing. If you have old stories and superstitions about brooms, tell us about them by emailing us here at The Neighborly! We'd love to hear from you 😄