Handmade Wood Furniture – Vermont is the Place to Shop

Handmade Wood Furniture – Vermont is the Place to Shop

Looking for authentic handmade wood furniture, made in the good ‘ol USA? It’s not so easy to find it anymore, is it? Most Americans think of North Carolina as the fine furniture capitol of the USA, but over the past 30 years, that has changed. The furniture companies we think of as being quintessentially American — for example Thomasville, Broyhill, Ethan Allen and Lane — no longer make much, if any furniture in the USA. Instead they outsource their furniture to factories in China, Vietnam and other third world countries.

So where does one go to find authentic, high quality, handmade wood furniture? It turns out that Vermont is now the fine furniture capitol of the country. By unofficial count, some 2000 small wood furniture makers dot the rural Vermont countryside, taking advantage of the heavily forested nature of our state for the supply of natural, eco-friendly raw materials.

Vermont has traditionally been home to a vibrant cottage industry of artisans, working in all types of media, including native hardwoods. Furniture makers from all around the globe flock to Vermont to practice their craft in the Green Mountain state. A thriving community of woodworkers has developed, bringing together Vermont families who have practiced woodworking for many generations and newcomers who have brought new and different aspects of the craft to the area.

Furniture aficionados will find Vermont furniture shopping to be quite a different experience than the routine trip to a neighborhood big box furniture store. Savvy customers are combining their furniture shopping with travel and tourism throughout Vermont’s rural countryside. The autumn leaf-peeping season has become the time of choice to shop although visitors are welcomed year-round. To learn more about Vermont’s handmade wood furniture, check out the Vermont Fine Furniture Festival, held in Woodstock every year during the last week of September. There you’ll get an insider’s view of how authentic fine wood furniture is made and why Vermont is truly the Fine Furniture Capitol of America.

Find options and tips for buying handmade wood furniture, built to order in America, at VermontWoodsStudios.com.

Peggy Farabaugh owns and operates Vermont Woods Studios, an online furniture store specializing in high-quality, eco-friendly, handmade wood furniture from Vermont. Her education includes a BS degree in Chemistry, an MPH in environmental safety and health management and an MS degree in training and communications. Her background is in environmental health and safety education and training.