Basket Museum

The past two summers when driving north of Camden, Maine I noticed an intriguing old barn with quaint old barn doors. The barn peeked out from the woods way back from the highway. A small sign out front said "Indian Basket Museum". When I drove by it was always early morning or late at night and the place was closed. Finally last week I drove by in the middle of the afternoon and it was open!

To my amazement the barn had baskets for sale. Baskets that looked exactly like we weave but almost all were woven entirely in ash with sweetgrass as the filler and most of them were priced under $25. There was even a star basket like Sara's waste paper basket, in ash, only much larger for only $40. Believe me-- I was temped TO BUY, but didn't know how to get it home on the plane as it was woven into more of a bowl shape and was about 2 feet across.

So, I had to identify myself as a weaver to the owner and he suggested I go upstairs and look at the museum. It was amazing. The Native American owner had devoted a lifetime to the collecting of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Baskets. There were even pictures of the barn back in the early 1900's with women dressed in native costumes weaving by the side of the highway selling baskets to the tourists.

He had about 100 wooden basket forms and several hundred old baskets. Several old baskets were for sale and all out of my price range (especially since I don't know anything about collecting antique Native American baskets). He did have a few new baskets made by the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy women but they didn't have as many curls and detail as the old baskets, although they were all made of ash.

So we talked about the price of his cheaper baskets downstairs, those not in the museum. They are advertised as "Made in America". He explained that the wood comes from Vermont, is shipped to China and woven ( I assume by abused women in Chinese prisons). Then the completed basket is shipped back to the U.S., some are stained and all are sold for $5-$40. Since the ash came from Vermont legally it can be labeled as "Made in America". I found it confusing. When we want to buy ash, it is quite expensive. Here they not only weave the whole basket of ash, but ship it back and forth to China and still sell a basket the size of our market basket for under $20. Amazing.

P.S. Remember watching Pete's Dragon , the Disney musical staring Helen Reddy (famous for "I am Women" song) and Mickey Rooney --- there really is a Passamaquoddy! Unfortunately the movie was filmed in California not at the Quoddy Lighthouses on Passamaquoddy Bay. But the lighthouse built for the movie does resemble the real one..... a little.