“All we can really leave are memories, so it’s important that we create them.” – John C. Adams II
Popknot
John Adams says he "has wood in my veins.”
He’s a great-grandson of lumber millers and forestry managers. And, grew up watching his grandfathers working in the saw mill, amongst the trees standing in the hills of the Ozarks.
“I learned a lot, but most importantly, a hard day’s work done right was priceless,” John says to me while sitting at our handmade black walnut, round table.
John watched the men in his memory-held, mountain community “fell” trees, hook them up to the horses with chains and pull them into the lumber yard to be milled. In those
days, the saws were powered by belts and pulleys. And, he gets a far-off look in his eyes as he recalls how those huge saws churned up sawdust all around them as they seemingly worked endless days. I could see his nostrils flair as he vividly recalled the smell of that freshly cut wood drifted into his nose on a country breeze.
“My grandfathers were not
just lumberjacks, but real hillbilly people. They didn’t have electricity and yet they were seemingly able to provide everything they needed on the farm; from tobacco to cain sorghum molasses. They had milk cows, chickens, hogs, and mules around their hilly homesteads and stored their harvests in root cellars and where they also cured hams to fend off winter’s hunger driving cold. It was a full-family working-way-of-life,” John fondly remembers.
His eyes watched the people in his life build items from wood to sell or use. It all clearly left a lasting impression on him. An imprint that lives in the past, present and future.
“I learned a lot from those people,” He teaches. “I honor them by building
items in my shop. As a disabled veteran, it’s something vital I can still do. We have 16 grandchildren who are all watching and learning, just as I did.”
He knew they were watching because they began coming to him, asking how to do wood working projects. The grandchildren who were wood-handy began to work with him to create products to sell to their
friends and family. Those that didn’t want woodwork created a business plan and website. That’s how Popknot Wood was born.
John loves binding the generations of his family together through wood-born creations and restorations. And, he’s moved when they’re able to preserve wood-held-memories for their clients as well.
“People bring legacy tables, chairs and other cherished pieces to us and we restore them. That’s what we really love to do.”
He is also cognizant of another tangible memory not far from where we were talking.
“Our family donated a plot of land on Walnut Street for a church years ago. Each member of our family created a stained-glass window and installed in that church to stay tied to that family land,” a watery eyes John imparted before continuing. “All we can really leave are memories, so it’s important that we create them.”
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