by Heather Skelly

For the Jennings, becoming woodworkers was more of a process … not something they set out to do. After all, they had 15 years combined in the mines when they were laid off. “We didn’t owe anyone any money so we were free to work part time here and there,” says Sue Jennings. In fact, in the early years of their marriage before they started Allegheny Treenware, the Jennings were living off of just $6,000 to $8,000 a year. Both avid hunters and gardeners, the Jennings lived lean and off of the land.

An award-winning egg separator made from curly maple.

During those first few years after working in the mines, Sue worked several summers helping her brother and sister-in-law run their nursery business and Stan worked with a friend pouring concrete then later for an uncle on a surface mining operation. Around this same time, the couple used salvaged wood from a condemned property that Stan bought before meeting Sue to build a small woodworking shop on their farm. Here, they would make gifts for family and friends when they couldn’t afford to buy any. “We both have a great appreciation for wood given to us by our upbringings,” says Sue. “My father was a contractor in Ohio while I was growing up … I loved the way things went together to create something as wonderful as a home. Stan’s father owned and operated a sawmill. He got killed early in Stan’s life but his mother and brothers continued their reverence for wood and nature in all aspects of their lives.”

After a few years of making small gifts from wood, Sue says she was ready to see if they could make some extra money from their hobby. Although they only earned a meager $9 their first show, by their fourth show they earned over $1,000 and “there was no looking back.”

With no formal training, the Jennings say that they’ve been free to develop their own style through trial and error. The couple spent time studying their ancestors’ work, both colonial and shaker in nature, before coming up with their own utilitarian style that they describe as “very traditional, yet quite beautiful and functional.” “It’s a lot of fun when you’re not a slave to someone else’s work,” says Sue.

The Jennings’ treenware (which literally means small objects made from wood) is made from a variety of woods, including cherry and maple, which have been stored and seasoned on their property. Each piece is handmade in their shop by the Jennings with the help of their assistants. “Stan and I do all the shaping of our work so we feel every piece is still our work and we aren’t just a factory where our employees make these items for us,” Sue adds. Their pieces range in price from under $10 for some whisks and strainers to over $200 for their more elaborate sets of measuring cups and spoons. A three-letter abbreviation is wood-burned on the back of every handle to identify the wood species its made from along with their initials and the date made.

The Jennings say they have a healthy mail-order and Internet business and that they sell Allegheny Treenware through over 200 shops across the nation and at several retail shows throughout the year. In 1999, the Jennings were commissioned to build and stock a private label for “The Greenbrier Gourmet” at The Greenbrier hotel and resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., as well as for The Broadmoor hotel and resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. That year they were also featured in Early American Homes magazine’s “Directory of Traditional American Crafts,” a listing that lead to an invitation to create an ornament for The White House Christmas tree.

Today, the Jennings say they aim to create work that’s affordable to the average working family. “We felt there would always be a market for a product a person could justify buying because it would get used in everyday living,” adds Sue. Yet they acknowledge that foreign competition is a big problem that all artists face. “I firmly believe there will always be a market for handmade in America but that market is a challenge to find and a smaller market than in years past,” says Sue.

The Jennings also admit that they’ve made mistakes throughout their journey. Three years ago Sue says they decided to downsize the business and cut 10 retail shows from their schedule to free up some of their personal time. Like many artists, the Jennings found that they’d sacrificed so much of their own time to their growing business that friends and family thought they’d “dropped off the face of the earth.” “We were totally consumed with the business,” says Sue. “Not everyone would put so much of themselves into a business that their identities were lost. That is exactly what we did. I don’t know if we would do that again if we had it to do over … After all, we now have a wonderful grandson that needs us to be a little closer to home.”

Heather Skelly is editor of The Crafts Report.

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