9 unexpected discoveries from “The Best of West Virginia”
Some of the Mountain State’s best artisan works, unique flavors and traditional sounds can all be found under 1 peaked, red roof.
Tamarack in Beckley is the one-stop center for West Virginia’s top handcrafted work, including a theater, fine arts gallery and live artist demonstrations. You can even try our traditional fare, like West Virginia rainbow trout.
Explore metalworks, apparel, jewelry, furniture, pottery, fine arts and crafts, books and more.
Among the traditional favorites are some unique discoveries:
1. Aluminum can art
Tamarack artisan Merideth Young uses upcycled aluminum cans to create one-of-a-kind jewelry and wall art. It all started with colors and patterns on beverage cans that turned into flower petal necklaces, pendant earrings and more.
2. Artist demonstrations
If you want to see how these beautiful pieces of art are crafted, watch one of the many Tamarack artisans at work! Glass, wood, pottery and fine art crafters demonstrate their talents to guests.
3. Coal candy
Drawing inspiration from her coal miner family, Lisa Dawn created Coal Candy, which comes in flavors like bubblegum and butterscotch to watermelon and sour apple. The fresh hard candy is packaged to look like chunks of “coal” in a mason jar.
4. Handcrafted wooden toys
Kearneysville company Blue Ridge Salvage creates handcrafted wooden toys from reclaimed wood. Browse the traditional heirloom-quality toys, like trains, block sets and more.
6. Bird nesting ball
Holler Farm creates a wool bird nesting ball— the perfect complement to a nearby bird feeder. Birds happily pull out tufts of multicolored wool and carry them back to their nest to keep it soft, warm and dry.
5. Glass witch ball
These handmade glass ornaments, made by Appalachian Glass, draw inspiration from hundreds of years ago, when people would put hollow glass balls in their windows to ward off a witch’s spell, evil spirits and ill fortune. These glass balls come in beautiful shades of blue, pinks and purples.
7. Governor Hulett C. Smith Theater
Enjoy some live bluegrass, jazz, country or classical music at Tamarack’s theater. You may even catch a play, poetry, reading, guest speaker, film, seminar, performance, theater camp, competitions and more!
8. A Taste of West Virginia food court
West Virginia-made jams, jellies, salad dressings, mustards and locally grown trout and catfish are incorporated into daily menus at the food court. Try Tamarack’s chicken pot pie or braised beef sirloin with sweet onion jus for a real taste of regional cuisine.
9. Sandals
Gurkee’s Rope Sandals have been featured in Vogue, Elle Girl and GQ. The Morgantown-based company crafts the sandals from soft textured carpet yarn and eco-friendly vegan materials. They come in a variety of styles: barbados, gladiators, kona, montego, neptune, trinidad and tobago.
What’s your favorite discovery at Tamarack?
This post was last updated on March 16, 2022