To visit the home of Bob and Carol Buck is to be immersed in the heritage of the Shenandoah Valley. The couple shares a lifelong passion for the furniture, folk art and crafts of the first European immigrants to the northern mountains of Virginia. After retiring, Bob began developing his passion first by restoring homes. He continued to explore craftsmanship by making oriental rugs, weaving baskets, and replicating the work of 18th century craftsman Johannes Spitler. “I find the structural elements of intricately crafted objects to be intriguing,” Bob says. “I am amazed by the lasting quality, beauty and functionality of household necessities made centuries ago and I enjoy the challenge of trying to replicate those qualities in my work.”

Carol's ancestry traces back to early Shenandoah Valley settlers in the 1730s, with German Lutheran farmers on one side and Quaker cabinet makers on the other. She developed a love for plants through time spent with her grandmother and to this day, she still has the original primroses from her grandmother's yard. But it was her mother's influence through church music that opened the world of singing and piano works. Carol writes: “We are filled with melodies like notes, scales, and beats that resonate within us. Music is a universal language, sometimes only understood internally. Don't judge what doesn't speak to you; it might be another's saving grace.”