TWO FEATHERS TRADING, PART 1 (Cheri)

Over time I have come to realize that Mark and I see - and blog about - the places that we visit very differently.

In late August, Mark and I went to King, NC to see an architectural salvage shop that I had found.  He did a blog post right away, about the town and various window-and-door vignettes on the grounds of the shop, and that is very typical.  He loves doing vignettes, particularly if they reflect surrounding areas.

I go down rabbit holes, investigating the history of the places we visit and showing wider vista shots.

Two Feathers Trading is located behind the home of the owner, Rick Landreth.  Rick and his late wife originally located their shop in Winston-Salem, and worked with the monied owners in the area.  Eventually they realized that they could work in nearby King and relocated there.  King is very small, with a population of just over 7,000 people, but the Landreths apparently traveled all over the country seeking wares.

I had a great time talking with Rick.  One of these days we are going to take a picnic and spend the afternoon with him, hearing more stories and learning more about his property.

You may recognize Rick from this picture.  Mark included a photo of him in his August 2024 post, but I like this one, which shows him "now and then":

This and the picture at the top are from the back of Rick's home:

and here is some texture on the right-hand pillar:

He told me that it had been part of a 600-acre estate, and had been the home of the owners of a very large furniture-making factory (which I believe had also been on the estate).

I wanted to research both the home and the factory, but could not find anything significant.  I'm virtually certain the street name has been changed.  It is located at 127 Bob Rierson Street, and there was a Reverend Bob Rierson that died recently.  (I told you I go down rabbit holes!)

I did find this about the naming of the town itself, on Wikipedia:

The town was originally called "King's Cabin". Charles and Francis King
lived in a cabin owned by Francis's father for a short time in the 1830s.
Being Quakers and against slavery, the King family moved to the free North.
According to television journalist and historian Chad Tucker's book
Images of America, King (2006), after the King family left their home
it was used by locals as a landmark or reference point in giving directions.
Several decades later when a post office was established in 1888
it was named for that reference point, King's Cabin. The railroad laid tracks
a few years later and shortened the name to "King" in its business transactions,
and to eliminate confusion the post office followed on September 26, 1894.
Charles and Francis King never returned to Stokes County
and never knew their former home became the namesake of a town.

I was fascinated by the fact that the Kings never knew of their ongoing connection to their old hometown.

Anyway, there are at least four different buildings on the grounds, in addition to Rick's home.  Here is one of the smaller buildings:

and here, a wonderful arrangement that was hanging on the front off the building when we first visited:

Here are some "formal" pieces that are on the grounds:

I'm going to come back to this topic later, but tonight I'll stop with these two incredible texture-rich shots from an area towards the back of Rick's site:

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