South Jersey Basketmaking Traditions: Lecture and Workshop with Mary May

For two hundred years, South Jersey baskets did the region's hard work: carrying strawberries to the train, hauling charcoal out of the Pines, lifting the day's catch from the bay. On Sunday, November 15 at 3 PM, Mary May brings that history to Richwood Academy's historic classroom, then sits down at the bench to show how the baskets were made.
May learned the craft under a New Jersey master basketmaker and studies surviving baskets to recover techniques nearly lost. One she traced to a Forked River man whose unusual weave she taught herself to copy, doubling the strands back the way he had a century before. In 2024 the New Jersey State Council on the Arts named her a Heritage Fellow for keeping the tradition alive. After the talk, stay for a hands-on session and a chance to try the weave yourself.
For two hundred years, South Jersey baskets did the region's hard work: carrying strawberries to the train, hauling charcoal out of the Pines, lifting the day's catch from the bay. On Sunday, November 15 at 3 PM, Mary May brings that history to Richwood Academy's historic classroom, then sits down at the bench to show how the baskets were made.
May learned the craft under a New Jersey master basketmaker and studies surviving baskets to recover techniques nearly lost. One she traced to a Forked River man whose unusual weave she taught herself to copy, doubling the strands back the way he had a century before. In 2024 the New Jersey State Council on the Arts named her a Heritage Fellow for keeping the tradition alive. After the talk, stay for a hands-on session and a chance to try the weave yourself.