Gallery Walk at Tryon Arts & Crafts School

Free. The fourth owner, Julia Calhoun, will be giving a talk on the history of the Toy Makers on Thursday, May 29, 6-7pm at Tryon Arts and Crafts School.♦ Light refreshments will be provided.

When Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale moved to Tryon and opened the Tryon Toy Makers and Weavers, it’s doubtful they thought their enterprise would still be here 110 years later. They, along with Edith Vanderbilt, had already established Biltmore Estate Industries, renowned for its fine woolen fabric. One can still tour the Industries work room museum. The business became Tryon Toy Makers & Wood Carvers in 1922 when they dropped the weaving. It has had only four individual owners and a brief stint of management by the Farmers Federation.